Of wandering guardians and sphere hunters
by Kin-Ryu Chikara
Summary: Sequel to 'Of wandering guardians and summoning arts. Story continues where left of. Rated for explicit scenes and possibly language. M just to be sure. ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1

Of wandering guardians and sphere hunters.

Chapter 1.

By: Kin-Ryu Chikara

This is a fan fiction based on the ps2 game Final Fantasy X and X-2. I have no rights to this game, names or characters from the game. That right belongs to Square Enix. This story is based on the game and may differ slightly from the game play.

"Regular speech"

" VERY LOUD YELLING OR VERY LOUD SPEECH."

'thought'

"_Song"_

(A/N: my notes during the story. Stands for author's notes)

-- paragraph

* * *

After the meeting in Luca, we boarded Cid's airship. He took us to Besaid, where I and Yuna decided to live. It wasn't much of a difficult choice though, Yuna having lived in Besaid for the last ten years, and I not having lived anywhere for the last twelve.

We lived with Wakka and Lulu for a couple of months before our own hut was built and we moved in.

The first year went by without much excitement, the only break from the, in my opinion, boring days were Wakka and Lulu's wedding, mine and Yuna's wedding anniversary and the anniversary for the day Sin was destroyed. And of course, Lulu's announcement that she was pregnant.

--

Almost two years after Sin's defeat, I started to feel uneasy and restless. The feeling didn't go away, and Yuna noticed but didn't say anything until a couple of days passed.

When I stopped sleeping, Yuna had enough and confronted me when we sat down to eat breakfast.

"Is something wrong, stud?" she asked worriedly and I had to smile at her concern, but the moment of amusement only lasted a moment.

"Babe, I'm sorry, but I have to leave soon." I said sadly. Yuna practically flew up and banged her knee against the table. I stood up and knelt down before her to rub her knee.

"Why? Why do you have to leave?" Yuna said, and I saw tears in her eyes when I looked up. I stood up and wiped them of with my thumb.

"I have felt that the elements have started to become violent up north. I don't know exactly where, so I have to find that place and bring the elements under my control again. Please don't worry, I won't be gone long, I hope." I said sadly, and Yuna's tears returned.

"But I don't want you to leave. Can't I come with you?" she asked, but I shook my head.

"No you can't." I said sadly, and when I saw her crushed expression I rubbed her cheek.

"Don't get me wrong. I would much rather have you with me than go alone, but I don't know where the raging elements are, and if I take to long to find them, they will go wild and the whole area they are will be filled with all the elements. I am the only one immune to all the elements, and I don't want you to get hurt." I said soberly and she nodded hesitantly after thinking for a while before she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me hard.

"Please be careful, and hurry back okay?" she said and I nodded against her embrace.

--

Early the next day, I left Besaid. I was clothed in my summoning outfit again, but instead of a staff I carried Caladbolg and had a heavy cloak cowering me. On my back I carried a durable backpack, which was empty but I intended to fill it in Luca. I got on the ship to Luca, and stood on the deck, watching as I left Besaid behind. It thought I saw a red airship land near Besaid, but I didn't take to much notice. My hearth was heavy, but also a bit excited. I was going to travel again. I missed travelling, force of habit I suppose.

In Luca, I put on the hood to avoid getting recognised and I wandered the streets. I heard some people talking about the sphere race and sphere hunters. We had heard of sphere hunters in Besaid, but none had come. I kind of envied them and their freedom.

I walked into the same place I had my equipment get fixed before I went to Besaid before I meet Yuna. In there, I bought a lot of potions and other healing stuff. The owner recognised me and I took of my hood.

"High Summoner Salmar. A pleasure to see you again. How are you?" he asked

"Oh, just fine. Living a quiet life with my wife, although my duty calls me up north." I said, smiling gruffly. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you're married? I had no idea. Who is the lucky girl?" he asked.

"Lady Yuna." I simply said and the man grinned widely.

"Oh, you are both very lucky then. By the way, which group do you belong to?" he asked. I was confused.

"Group?" I asked.

"Yes. The Youth League, New Yevon, Machine Faction, sphere hunters or the Fire Lord Searchers." He said. By now I had heard of the Youth League, New Yevon, Machine Faction and sphere hunters, but not the last group.

"What is the Fire Lord Searchers?" I asked curiously.

"It is a group that searches for the Fire Lord. Some sphere hunters found a temple near Zanarkand dedicated to the Fire Lord. He is a person who controls the elements. One of the sphere hunters tried to go into the chamber where the Fire Lord is chosen, but he only heard several voices telling him that only one Fire Lord can exists. Meaning he is walking around Spira right now. The sphere hunters formed the Fire Lord Searchers, and have searched for him ever since. Their group has grown, and I think that the sphere hunters and the Fire Lord Searchers have, at least partially, merged and joined causes." The man explained. I slowly nodded before I smiled.

"I see. And the answer is no, I don't belong to any of those. I try to hold myself outside political influences, although I have heard only the Youth League and New Yevon are politically active. By the way, do you have some new weapons? I have this sword…" I said and patted the hilt of Caladbolg, "but I feel the time is for a reinforcement of my arsenal. Any suggestions?" I asked and the man thought for a while before he nodded, ran away for a bit and came back with a case filled with guns.

"These are the best guns I have. You'll be able to hit accurately from over a hundred meters if you practise enough." He said and held up two guns. They were silver and blue in colour, about thirty centimetres long, the barrel ten centimetres from top to bottom, the grip fit perfectly in my hand, the trigger was made up of three golden triggers to make sure that I could fire rapidly.

"What kind of ammo do they use?" I asked.

"Magic" the man said happily. I raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed.

"When you fire the guns, they take a small proportion of your magic and make it into ammo. If I were to take a guess, I would say that someone as strong as you could fire these guns for hours before getting exhausted." He said and I nodded.

"Sounds good. I'll take them." I said and he smiled happily.

"Alright then. I'll even throw in these two holsters for you." He said, and gave me to black holsters for the guns.

After I paid the man, I left and headed north. I checked my map to see where I was heading.

'Omega Ruins. Sounds like a dangerous place.' I thought before I put on my backpack again, placed my hood back so it cowered my face and set off.

--

Yuna stood alone and watched as Salmar left. She felt lonely, lonelier than she had ever been and she sighed sadly before turning and walking back to their hut. Once inside, she went to the bed to try and get some sleep.

But then, after what seemed like way to little time in Yuna's opinion, someone knocked and called her name.

"Yunie. Are you there?" Rikku asked, poking her head into the hut. Yuna sat up on the bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Rikku? It's early. Why are you here?" Yuna asked. Rikku walked in, followed by a leather clad woman with silver hair and red eyes. Rikku plumped down on the bed beside Yuna.

"Where's Flames?" Rikku asked in her usual cheerful tone.

"He left, probably not an hour ago. He had some work to do, and said it was too dangerous for me to come along." Yuna said and hung her head. Yuna the raised her head and looked at Rikku's companion. The silver haired woman was clothed in black and red leather that empathised her curves and belts with skulls on. She also had a claps shaped like an X, holding the leather piece across her chest in place. The woman managed to look intimidating and pretty at the same time. She looked older than Rikku, and held herself in a way that said that she could inflict serious injuries if she wanted. Yuna got the impression that the woman was a loner who didn't like to interact with other people.

Rikku hadn't changed much, although her hair was much longer and she now had several braids. Other than that, Rikku hadn't changed much, perhaps growing a bit, but she was every bit as cheerful and energetic as before.

"So, Yunie, what's with the tail?" Rikku asked. Yuna had grown some of her hair really long and had collected it to form what looked like a tail cowered in red ribbon. The rest of Yuna's hair hadn't changed other than the fact that it was more flowing now and not the simple, and according to Salmar, slightly boring style she had during the pilgrimage.

"I wanted a change. And Flames liked it." Yuna said with a shrug. Rikku was about to ask more questions when the silver haired woman interrupted.

"Rikku, the sphere!" she simply said, and Rikku nodded, although a bit hesitantly. She reached into her pouch and took out a glowing sphere. She handed it to Yuna.

"Here. Kimahri found this on Mount Gagazet. I think you should see what it shows." Rikku said soberly. Yuna hesitantly started watching the sphere.

It showed a cage with a blonde man sitting in it. Someone, Yuna assumed it was the one that had recorded the sphere complained about a war dragging on because Zanarkand refused to surrender. The man inside the cage spun around and said: "You're wrong." He said something else as well, but Yuna didn't hear. She was to busy with her thoughts.

'Its him. It has to be. He looks just like him, but…something is off.' Yuna thought. The man inside the cage looked exactly like Tidus. The sphere ended and Yuna looked up at Rikku.

"Is that…was that really him?" she asked.

"We don't know. It seems like him. We're hoping to find other spheres or clues about what happened to him." Rikku said.

"We?" Yuna said and looked at the silver haired woman, who looked busy trying to gauge Yuna's reaction.

"I and Brother formed a sphere hunter group called the Gullwings." Rikku said happily.

"And your friend?" Yuna asked, nodding towards the silver haired woman. Rikku gave a little eep and jumped up to stand next to the woman.

"This is Paine. She is part of the Gullwings. Paine…Yuna. Yunie…Paine." Rikku said happily. Paine nodded to Yuna.

"Nice to meet you High Summoner." She said.

"Nice to meet you too." Yuna replied. 'She sounds nice enough' Yuna thought.

"Have you found anything yet?" Yuna asked hopefully, but Rikku shook her head.

"No, we haven't. But we'll keep trying." Rikku said while maintaining her usual air of confidence. Yuna thought for a while before she asked.

"What do you do? I mean, what does a sphere hunter do?"

"Well, we travel around Spira, looking for spheres, and although I know who he is, we are also supposed to look for the Fire Lord, although I don't bother. I know where he is, and all that. But when I think of it, the life of a sphere hunter is a lot like when we were on the pilgrimage, travelling and stuff. Its fun." Rikku said while she grinned. Yuna thought for a bit more.

"Well, both Flames and I have started to become bored with just living quietly here in Besaid, and I'm sure he won't mind another adventure. Do you think we can join?" Yuna asked and Rikku didn't even stop to think.

"Yeah, that would be great. You and Flames on the team. Wouldn't that be great Paine?" she asked. The silver haired woman didn't reply, but crossed her arms instead.

"Okay, I'll join then, and I'm sure Flames will join as well once he gets back. But one question, why are so many sphere hunters looking for the Fire Lord?" Yuna asked.

"They want him to lead them. After Yevon's fall, many wanted something to believe in. The Fire Lord seemed like a good choice, so now a lot of sphere hunters try to find him. I still find it hard to believe that Rikku knows him though." Paine said.

"Hey, I do!" Rikku insisted.

"Yes, she's right. He fought with us against Sin." Yuna said and Paine looked slightly surprised but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, when do you want to leave? We have a airship where the whole team stays. You and Flames can move in and have your own room too." Rikku said with a mischievous grin on her face. Yuna thought for a moment, and decided to ignore the grin on Rikku's face, before she came to the conclusion that she should follow Salmar's example and leave as early as possible. He had left very early because that lessened the risk of seeing and upsetting someone he knew.

"Can we go now? I'll just pack a few things and we can be off." Yuna said. Rikku nodded and Yuna began throwing things into a suitcase, things belonging to her and Salmar.

--

An hour later, three shadows left Besaid village and headed for the beach. There a huge red airship waited and they boarded. Yuna was introduced to the team.

There was Brother, who she recognised as the pilot of Cid's airship, Yuna remembered he was also the big brother of Rikku. Buddy, another Al Bhed who appeared to be a childhood friend of Brother, Shinra, an Al Bhed kid with an exceptional intellect, and Barkeep, an Hypello that took care of the bar on the ship, that was called the Celsius. The crew welcomed Yuna, who smiled at them and thanked them for being able to join.

"Oh, no problem Yuna." Brother said affectionately. That earned him a kick in the butt from Rikku.

"Hey, she's married. Stop flirting with her." Rikku yelled and Brother growled something. The Gullwings laughed at that and Paine took Yuna down to the cabin and showed her to her room.

"Thanks Paine." Yuna said and started to unpack. She was about to ask something when she noticed that she was alone.

'Quiet girl' Yuna thought and continued to unpack. After she was done, she took the elevator up to the bridge again.

"Can we make a quick stop in Luca. I want to by myself a new wardrobe. I think it's time I changed my style a little." Yuna said and Rikku chuckled.

"yeah, can't stay a summoner forever. But Shinra was just about to explain something about some dressphere." Rikku said and Shinra nodded. He held up a sphere.

"This is a movie sphere, but it can also be used as a dressphere. Dresspheres are spheres that enable the user to change clothes in seconds. Also with each dressphere, the users abilities are boosted, each sphere boosts a different skill. For instance, this one, the warrior dressphere, Paine's default, boosts physical strength and sword fighting. This one…" Shinra said and held up another sphere. "…is the thief sphere and boosts speed, agility and stealth. Of course they boost more than that, but that is the main bit of it. By combining an invention of mine, the garment grid, you can change between multiple dresspheres in the middle of a battle. The dressphere and garment grid is really useful, if I may say so myself. You can find more dresspheres as we find more spheres around Spira." Shinra finished his explanation.

"My default dressphere is the thief. What do you want to be yours Yunie? You can chose between gunner and songstress." Rikku said.

"Can I try them on before I decide?" Yuna asked and Shinra nodded.

"Yes, here." he said, and handed Yuna two spheres, one square piece of metal card, and one earpiece.

"The earpiece is a communicator. That'll enable us to contact each other. And the metal card is the garment grid." Shinra said. Yuna nodded and took the elevator down to go to her room.

In her room, she tried on the gunner first. The outfit was made out of a very small pair of sweatpants, a blue and white half skirt cowering her right foot, black boots that reached up to her knee, a yellow pouch, a pink and white shirt with a huge cleavage, barely covering her breasts. Between the breast-pieces of the shirt, a black emblem hung. It looked suspiciously like the mark that Tidus had on his shorts. Two yellow pieces of cloth with black stringing cowered her biceps and a black belt was around her right wrist. A pink hood was attached to the shirt. Two yellow bands went around her stomach. Yuna stood in front of the mirror in her room, and studied her reflection. She liked the outfit, but something was missing. She remembered what it was and took on her necklace and wedding ring. Also the beads hanging from her ear were put back in place before she took the earpiece and put it in her ear. Surprisingly she didn't even notice it was there.

Yuna turned in front of the mirror and smirked to herself. The sweatpants clung very nicely to her behind and she couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Salmar's reaction.

Deciding to see what weapons the dress had, she pulled out two guns. She didn't know, but they were identical to Salmar's.

"Wow, I never thought I'd use guns. Anyway, I don't need to see the other outfit. This is my default." Yuna said to herself and walked back to the elevator.

--

Once back on the bridge, she saw that Rikku had also changed. Rikku wore a blue bandana, red and yellow scarf, a yellow bikini top, a green miniskirt, two yellow pouches, blue and white boots and white sleeves. The style, while a bit…no…very revealing, seemed to suit Rikku and she looked happy. She wielded two red daggers.

Paine was in the same clothes she wore when Yuna meet her, but now she had a heavy looking sword with a skull by its hilt. The sword was black.

"Good, you have chosen the gunner then. Those guns use magic to make ammo. They are deadly if used right." Shinra said.

"Okay, now what?" Yuna asked.

"Let's go down into the cabin and celebrate that Yuna has joined us." Brother suggested. They went down and had a few drinks, sharing stories and Buddy kept asking Yuna who her husband was and if she knew anything about the Fire Lord. Yuna said that he would meet her husband soon enough and that she didn't know much about the Fire Lord. Buddy seemed a little disappointed at that.

--

The next day, Yuna woke up, got dressed in her new outfit, and went down to the bar to eat. She had been told that the bar was used just as much without alcohol as with alcohol, since it was the only kitchen in the ship. She had been pleasantly surprised when Barkeep had placed a big plate with her favourite breakfast in front of her.

"Missh Yuna musst eats, yessh" Barkeep said. Yuna nodded happily and started eating.

As she ate, Rikku joined her, yawning.

"Morning. had a nice sleep?" Yuna asked.

"Mhm, yeah. You?" Rikku replied, and frowned when Yuna shook her head.

"No, I had real trouble falling asleep. Perhaps it's the constant movement of the Celsius, or because I haven't slept alone in two years, but what ever the reason I didn't sleep well." Yuna said and Rikku noticed dark rings under Yuna's eyes.

"Well then, we'll just have to find Flames then, so you can get a decent sleep." Rikku teased. Just then Paine walked down and joined the two.

"Who is that "Flames" character?" Paine asked, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"Why? You curious all of a sudden?" Rikku asked, nudging Paine in the ribs.

"No, its just that I knew someone who might have that nickname." Paine said.

"He's name is Salmar, my husband. We call him Flames because…" Yuna began but Paine interrupted.

"…because he has flames inside his body." She said and shrugged when she saw the stares she received.

"How…how did you know?" Rikku asked. Paine shrugged again and walked away. But before she left, she said:

"I think we should go look for him. It would be nice to meet him again."

And then she left her two very confused team mates starting after her.

--

"Okay, so all three of you want to find High Summoner Salmar? What for and how do we locate him?" Buddy asked.

"He's Yunie's husband and she misses him. Do we need a better reason?" Rikku asked.

"Okay, but how do we locate him?" Brother asked, looking slightly depressed.

Paine looked at Shinra and said in a stern tone:

"Try scanning for the highest concentration of the fire element in Spira. Perhaps we'll find him that way."

Shinra didn't ask why he should scan for fire, and did. He typed in something on his screen and a few tense moments went by.

"I think I've got him. There is also a huge fire concentration here on this ship, but the other is on the Mi'hen highroad." Shinra said.

"Let's go!" Rikku yelled, pumping a fist in the air. Yuna joined in with an excited bounce.

'How come master married her?' Paine thought while watching Yuna.

--

The three girls jumped of the ship on to the Mi'hen Highroad, and went looking for Salmar.

They didn't find any sign of him, at all. This frustrated them, but they kept looking, wandering and running up and down the highroad several times, until Rikku got impatient.

"Where is he Shinra?" she asked over the comlink.

"How should I know? I'm just a kid." Shinra replied innocently. He only managed to make Rikku even madder.

"Oh, just leave it Rikku. Let's look some more, okay?" Yuna said and Rikku nodded.

Just then someone bumped into Yuna and they both fell down. Yuna lost the Songstress dressphere and it rolled a little away and a blonde haired woman picked it up. She brandished her fan and laughed.

"Just think of all the fun I can have while posing as the great High Summoner Yuna. Come on boys!" she said and ran off. The someone who had bumped into Yuna, a tall man with blue clothes, jumped up and ran after the woman accompanied by a fat man with a huge shield.

"Hey, give that back!" Rikku yelled, and ran after them. Paine helped Yuna get up and they followed as well.

They ran after the thieves and watched as the woman changed into the Songstress sphere and the resemblance to Yuna was striking.

"Oh no you don't. I won't let you do anything bad looking like me." Yuna said and increased her speed. Unfortunately some goons appeared and blocked her path.

"Get out of the way!" Paine growled but the goons merely chuckled.

"Don't think so little girl. Our orders are to merely keep you occupied while the boss has a little fun. Now be a good girl and stay back." The goon said. Moments later he lay on the ground, moaning as blood oozed from a large cut on his back. The three girls continued to run after the thief, but she had gotten away.

--

The girls continued searching for the thief, completely forgetting about Salmar, but they didn't find any signs of the thief. They rented a room in the travel agency and stayed the night there. Yuna had trouble sleeping; she spent all night wondering what her impostor was going to do. Also she wondered why they hadn't found Salmar yet. Realising she could lie there thinking for hours without getting anywhere, she resumed her attempt to sleep and eventually feel into an uneasy slumber.

--

The next day, the girls woke up and heard that High Summoner Yuna was going to hold a concert in Luca the next day. Lots of people were hurrying to the city and that made finding the impostor, who would surely be the one holding the concert, even more difficult. The girls got picked up by the Celsius to create some sort of strategy.

Brother was pacing back and forward on the bridge, thinking as much as he could about the situation. But he was beaten by Shinra.

"Yuna can't show herself. People would recognise her and realise something was wrong. We have to disguise Yuna somehow." Shinra said.

"I've got it. Yuna can be a moogle." Brother exclaimed and nodded happily to himself. He then ran out of the bridge, and moments later came back with a moogle costume.

"This is the Gullwings pride mascot. Yuna can wear this and no one will recognise her." Brother said and trusts the costume into Yuna's hands.

"Then she can remain disguised while Rikku and Paine deal with the impostor." Buddy said and Rikku bounced with excitement.

"Yay, this will be fun. Let's kick some impostor ass." She said and Yuna laughed a bit before looking sourly at the costume.

"Do I really have to wear this?" she asked and Brother nodded.

"Yes, that is an order." He said, trying to sound as manly and leaderly as possible.

Yuna's head slumped down in defeat. Rikku patted her cousin's shoulder.

"Aw, don't worry Yunie. At least Salmar won't see that. If he did, I think he would have a hard time breathing and stopping himself from laughing." Rikku said and Yuna looked at her sourly.

"Not helping."

--

The next day Yuna, Rikku and Paine exited the Celsius on the outskirts of Luca. Rikku and Paine in their usual outfits, but Yuna in the moogle costume.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that warm inside that thing, can it?" Rikku asked.

"Yes, it can." Yuna protested.

"Well it was a order from our high and mighty leader, so Yuna, you'll just have to bear with it." Paine said in her usual tone.

"Now, be a good moogle and we'll see you later." Rikku said and she and Paine ran of towards the blitz ball stadium.

Yuna spent some time wandering around Luca, and suddenly found herself giving out balloons to the people she meet. In the shadows someone watched and thought:

'Where do I know that moogle? Oh well, time to sneak into the concert. Wonder why she's holding one in the first place.'

--

Meanwhile Rikku and Paine had snuck past the guards, beaten up a couple of them as well. While Rikku hid one of the unconscious guards, Paine ran ahead and found herself a place in the audience. There she briefly wondered if the people around would see that it was an impostor singing. Then Rikku's voice ran over the comlink: "Y.R.P, in position. It's show time girls."

--

Yuna heard that, and started to hurry to the place on the docks that they had agreed that she hide in.

--

Then the concert started with Yuna's impostor standing in the middle of the stage, wearing Yuna's summoner outfit. Then the music started and she started to dance. The summoning outfit dissolved and left behind Yuna's impostor in the Songstress outfit. Brown boots that reached up to just under the knee, grey half skirt that reached down to the knee, a dark blue skirt under that, dark blue shirt with white lacings down the front, blue sleeves from the elbows down, black strings holding the sleeves in place, and a microphone. The impostor danced and sung well, in fact so good that almost no one saw that it was an impostor. That almost included a dark clothed man.

'Damn, she looks so good. But why is she…huh? No, that's not Yuna. She doesn't move like that. And she certainly doesn't come close to tripping on her own feet. That's an impostor. Then where is the real Yuna?' the dark person thought.

--

Then the song ended and Rikku and Paine jumped up on the stage. The dark person raised an eyebrow when they did and started making his way towards the stage too. But after what looked like a short fight, which the audience thought was rigged, the impostor escaped with Rikku and Paine in hot pursuit, none of them noticing the dark shadow following.

--

Rikku and Paine caught up with the impostor at the docks and the two men that had followed her showed up. After a quick fight, the two girls were driven a bit back when the real Yuna showed up. She fired a couple of shots to stop the advance of the impostor and her men, and jumped over them to join her friends.

"Give back my dressphere." Yuna said angrily. The impostor laughed.

"Oh, you'll have to fight for it love." She said and the tall man started firing his guns at the girls. Yuna quickly crouched down and placed her hands on the ground. Fire erupted in front of her and stopped the shots. Rikku smirked while Paine was dumbstruck.

'How did she do that? I thought only master could do that.' Paine thought.

"So, you can shield yourself as well? Doesn't matter, my shield is much better" the fat man said and charged at Yuna, his shield raised to strike. But when he reached the fire, he was off course burned, badly. Running back to the impostor, he whined:

"She burned me. Boss, help!"

The impostor shook her head and sighed.

"Off course she burned you; she still had the fire up. Moron." She said and charged up a thunder spell.

Yuna readied herself and fired a volley of shots towards the three, but the fat man blocked with his shield.

"See, you're not the only one to block shots." The fat man bragged.

In the distance, a shadow was watching with amusement. He had almost popped his eyes out of their sockets when he saw Yuna, and he didn't even see her close enough to see the details of her outfit.

'Okay, now I have no idea who the real Yuna is, but she's changed a lot.' He thought, and continued to look between the two Yuna's. 'Although I have a suspicion that the one with the guns is the right one.' He added before starting to move towards the group.

--

Meanwhile, the girls were doing well. They were virtually untouched thanks to Yuna's fire, but their opponents weren't so fortunate. The two men lay bloody and beat up and the impostor barley stood on her feet.

"Give it back." Yuna growled. The impostor chuckled.

"I don't think so love. See you!" she said and threw a smoke bomb on the ground. Yuna, Rikku and Paine coughed and spat and when the smoke cleared they expected the impostor to be gone. What they saw made two of them gasp in surprise. Instead of running, the impostor hung in the air, a strong hand holding on to her neck. The person holding the impostor in the air was clothed in a dark cloak and had a hood cowering the head. The only part of the person showing was his arm, which were well muscled and had some scars on it, some of the scars looked like they were inflicted recently.

"Give it back!" the person growled, and Yuna thought she recognised the voice, but it was slightly muffled by the hood.

"No, why should I?" the impostor said and tried to kick her capturer. Who laughed and increased his pressure on her neck.

"Because, that sphere is not yours, and if you don't, I'll snap your neck like a twig. And Yuna gets her sphere anyway. The only difference will be that you will be dead." The person said.

The impostor gulped and nodded.

"Here!" she said, changed into her own dress, a purplish one with a weird fan as a weapon, and threw the sphere to Yuna, who caught it happily. The impostor, back to her own appearance growled and yelped as the person let go of her. She sat in front of him, moaning and rubbing her sore ass, which had made a rather harsh meeting with the ground.

"You'll pay for what you did to the boss." The fat man said, jumped, placed his shield under him and attempted to squash the person. Who chuckled and moments before the fat man made impact smashed his hand trough the shield and into the fat man's stomach. The fat man yelled in pain and where thrown back.

"Get out of here!" the person growled and the blonde woman and the tall man scrambled to their fallen comrade and carried him away as fast as they could. The person turned to the three girls that were now eying him closely. He bowed stiffly, like he didn't want to move too much. Yuna gave a short bow in return, Paine crossed her arms while Rikku tried to get a look inside the hood.

When the person straightened, he looked at Yuna and said: "You look good babe. Huge change, but I like it." he said. Rikku and Yuna's eyes widened and Paine raised an eyebrow questionably. Then Yuna squealed, rushed over to the person, jumped up and hugged him. Rikku smiled and didn't notice that the person stiffened when Yuna hugged him. Paine and Yuna did however, and Yuna reached up and pulled back the hood, earning a gasp from Paine.

"Hello stud!" Yuna said and kissed her husband.

--

After making out with Yuna a bit, I broke the kiss and looked at my wife. I had to blink a few times and swallow a few times before finding my voice again.

"You look really good in that outfit!" I said and let my eyes roam all over Yuna's body. She smiled and took a step back before doing a spin, clearly showing off for me. I had to swallow again, or else I might have drooled.

"Like what you see?" Yuna asked playfully and I nodded.

"Of course he does. You look great Yunie!" Rikku said while walking over. Paine followed and I was about to say something to her when Yuna reached inside my cloak and ran a hand over my stomach.

"What's up with the cloak?" she asked playfully.

"Look at your hand babe!" I said and Yuna pulled back and stared at her hand. She gasped. It was cowered in blood. I took of my cloak, revealing my shredded clothes and many bloodied bandages. Some of the wounds that had closed were opened by my sudden movement when the fat man attacked.

"What happened?" Yuna asked worriedly before she reached up and stroked my cheek. She noted that I had two more scars in my face than I had before I left Besaid.

"I fought a strong fiend that enjoyed torturing others, but I'll be fine with some rest and new bandages. Why don't you show me how you look with that sphere." I said, trying to change the subject. Yuna looked at me and was about to say something when Rikku interrupted.

"I think that is a good idea. Perhaps the thief gave you a bogus sphere. You should try it out Yunie." She said. Yuna sighed and looked sternly in my eyes.

"Okay, but afterwards you're coming with us to the ship and you're going to tell us the whole story!" Yuna said and when I nodded, she changed into the Songstress sphere.

When she changed, she immediately started dancing.

"Huh? Hey, what the?" Yuna said before she started to laugh and have fun. I could only stare, mesmerized by her movements. Then she stopped dancing and a red air ship came and landed beside us.

"Welcome to the Celsius, the airship belonging to the Gullwings." Rikku said happily.

Before we boarded, I put on my cloak again. I followed Yuna and Rikku while Paine went in after me. If I had seen her look, I would have recognised it as anxious.

First Yuna and I went to the cabin, where Yuna insisted that I change my bandages. Rikku and Paine went to the bridge, probably to announce my arrival. I took of my shredded shirt and pants and removed my bandages. Yuna gasped when she saw my back filled with cuts, most shallow but some deep.

"What did this to you?" Yuna asked worriedly.

"A fiend called Omega. He was the one disrupting the elements, so I had to take him out. He was strong, and had…sharp claws, which he was very fast with. But most of the cuts are closed and almost fully healed now. I opened some of them when that fatso jumped me. Don't worry babe." I said and walked up to her, tilted her head backwards and kissed her. She sighed before pulling back.

"We searched for you on the Mi'hen Highroad, but we didn't find you. Why?" Yuna asked.

"How should I know? I've been in Luca for a few days. I went back to Besaid, but you had already left, so I went to find you. I remembered on the ship to Luca that I left Besaid without changing clothes. I felt rather stupid then. And just as I got enough of these shreds I heard you were going to hold a concert and I snuck in. only I saw it was an impostor, so I followed and here I am." I said. Yuna looked at me before smiling.

"Okay, it doesn't matter. Let's get you bandaged and…oh, I forgot." She said, and stopped in the middle of bandaging my arm.

"Forgot what?" I asked, trying to finish my other arm.

"I have joined a sphere hunter group, the Gullwings. I was hoping you would join as well." Yuna said anxiously while she continued to wrap my arm. I smiled at her and nodded.

"If your leader will let me, then of course I'll join. Finally a chance for some fun again." I said grinning and Yuna grinned back.

"Thank you. Now stay still and let me finish with you back." She said and started wrapping my torso in bandages.

When she finished, I pulled on my pants again, and put the cloak over that. No use putting on the shirt, since my entire upper body was cowered in bandages. Then we went to the bridge, where Rikku, Brother, Paine, and two other Al Bhed were waiting. We walked down the stairs, and Rikku ran up to Yuna.

"Are Flames all right?" she asked and Yuna nodded.

"yeah, he is now." she said.

"So, it looked like you were enjoying yourself down by the dock." Rikku said.

"I was. When I changed into the sphere, it felt like some other person's excitement just took over." Yuna said.

"That can happen when you use the garment grid and the dressphere. If the emotions of the person who made the grid and the sphere are strong enough, they take over like that." The youngest, unknown Al Bhed said. He sat in front of a screen and was typing in something.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Rikku asked anxiously.

"I can't really say." The kid said

"But it's your invention!" the other unknown Al Bhed said.

"I'm just a kid." The kid replied.

Then Brother started coughing, sounding very fake also.

"Dancing Yuna? I want to see!" he said. Rikku ran up to him and hit him in the head.

"Stupid." She just said, and we laughed a bit. Yuna then got a evil glint in her eyes.

"it'll cost you." She said and Brother started searching trough his pockets.

"One moment…" he said, and I very nearly fell down laughing.

'This is my new boss? Cheesh.' I thought.

"She's kidding." Paine said and Brother looked down.

"Yuna, why don't you introduce us?" I said.

"Oh, right. Everyone, this is my husband, Salmar. This is Rikku, Paine, Brother, Buddy and Shinra." Yuna said.

"Hello!" I said and Brother walked up to me.

"You the one that used the main gun's power? Against Sin?" he asked and I nodded.

"Great, and you're joining us, right?" he pressed and Yuna leaned in against me.

"Of course he is. But we have to find him a new outfit." She said.

"Why? What's wrong with the one he has on now?" Buddy asked. I shook my head and opened the cloak, and was meet by gasps.

"Can't go around in shreds now, can I?" I said and the kid, Shinra stepped up to me.

"Perhaps you can use this. It's the only dressphere for males we have. We found it before Yuna joined." He said and handed me a sphere that glowed with the colour of all four elements, and a metal thing that he said was a garment grid. It had motives of fire, water, ice and thunder on it.

"Combining the garment grid and the dressphere, you can boost the abilities each dressphere is specialised in. For some reason that one is called…" Shinra explained, but I cut him of.

"…the Fire Lord." I said and he nodded. Yuna looked at the sphere.

"Where did you find it?" she asked and suddenly Rikku and Brother looked really uncomfortable. Buddy, Shinra and Paine didn't understand why however. No one answered.

"Where did you find it?" I asked angrily and Paine spoke up.

"The temple of the Fire Lord." She said. I looked at her before I turned to Rikku and Brother, both ghostly white now. I could feel Yuna tense up beside me. When I spoke, it was in a low voice, but the sheer magnitude and power almost made Brother soil himself.

"You went into my temple and…and STOLE FROM IT?" the last part I yelled and Brother fell down, shaking so much that I could hear his teeth rattle.

I walked towards Rikku and Brother.

"WHat business did you have at MY temple without me accompanying you?" I asked, enraged that something had been stolen from the place I and Yuna would eventually rest at.

"What do you mean 'my' temple? We went to the temple of the Fire Lord." Shinra said.

"Exactly. Who do you think Salmar is?" Yuna asked, she too was very angry.

"One of the two High Summoners to live after defeating Sin?" Buddy tried. Then Rikku broke down sobbing.

"That's right, but he is also the one to control the elements. The Fire Lord, and both Rikku and Brother knows that." Yuna said forcibly and Rikku's sobs increased.

"WHAT?" Buddy, Shinra and Paine yelled. To prove Yuna's statement, I raised my hand and created an orb made out of all four of the elements. Brother and Rikku visibly cringed but Shinra and Buddy looked interested.

"This is proof that I am what Yuna says. Be grateful that I consider you friends, because if you two were any others, you would have been very hurt by now. I am taking back this sphere, and I guess you found this grid there too?" I asked and Shinra nodded.

"Well then, I'll take that as well. If I ever find out that any of you, and I mean any of you…" I said and looked at each person in the room, except Yuna, "…goes in that temple without my approval, I won't hold back." I finished. Buddy and Shinra looked really scared by now, and Brother and Rikku couldn't stop trembling or sobbing.

I looked at the sphere before looking at Rikku and Brother again.

"All right you two, I won't hurt you. I'm sorry if I was a bit harsh, but that temple is a holy place, and when I die, I'm going there to rest. The thought of someone stealing from there really makes me angry and you two should know better." I said softly. Yuna walked over and helped Rikku up again. She still trembled, and looked downwards when she spoke.

"I'm sorry." She said. I shook my head and walked up to her. Placing a hand on her head, I ruffled her hair.

"As long as you won't do it again." I said and she nodded. Brother also stood up and gave a apology as well.

Turning away I looked at the sphere again.

"I'll go try this out." I said and left for the cabin, where I changed into the sphere and threw away the shredded clothes.

In the bridge, Paine walked up to Yuna, a bit hesitantly.

"Why was he only mad at Rikku and Brother?" she asked.

"Because they knew that he is the Fire Lord, and should have known better than taking that sphere." Yuna said simply. Paine didn't ask anything else, but walked back to her place and crossed her arms again.

Then I walked back in. My new outfit was called the Fire Lord for a reason. It was made for me. Black boots, black pants and black sweat shirt. The boots and pants had images of red flames, blue water, white ice and yellow lightning running up and down, and the shirt had the same elements flow in a circle in towards the centre of the shirt, making a circle of elements on my stomach. Inside the circle was the image of my sword, Caladbolg. On my hips my guns hung and on my back Caladbolg was in it's holster. A yellow pouch hung from a red belt. The outfit looked good and Yuna smiled when she saw me, while Rikku, who appeared to be back to her cheerful self again, whistled.

"That looks very good on you stud!" Yuna said and I grinned.

"What special abilities does the garment grid offer?" Shinra asked.

I thought for a bit before disappearing in a burst of all four elements. Reappearing beside Yuna, I scared her pretty much.

"I can do that. Short distance travel in an instant. Should be handy to have. Also I think I get more protection against non-elemental magic, so spells like Flare is just as effective on me as Yuna." I said.

"What's the difference if you don't use the grid?" Shinra asked.

"All non-elemental spells are twice as effective against Flames as against us." Rikku said.

"Flames?" Buddy asked.

"My nickname. And Rikku is right; I have a disadvantage against non-elemental spells. On the other hand, no element hurts me, so I guess it evens out." I said.

"Here!" Brother said and handed me the earpiece. "Welcome to the Gullwings."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What makes you so sure I want to stay?" I asked. His expression was priceless.

"Just kidding." I said and took the earpiece and placed it in my ear. Then some sort of alarm went of and Brother yelled: "Gullwings. To your positions."

I rubbed my ear and looked at Yuna.

"What does he mean?" I asked.

"Come!" she said and pulled me towards the glowing sphere in the middle of the bridge.

"When he says that, it means we are called here. My and your position is here. You, me, Paine and Rikku are going to be out in the field. The others are backup for us." Yuna explained.

"Oh, okay." I said and Yuna smiled before dragging me over to Shinra, who was by his screen again.

"Shinra is a real whiz kid. He can help us with everything that has something with technology. Shinra, can you show him the sphere?" Yuna said and Shinra nodded. He pulled up a image on his screen and a movie played. It showed someone looking like Tidus.

"Ah, so that's why! And here I thought you joined to have fun." I said and Yuna blushed. She then pulled me forward towards the pilot seats. In the one to the right Rikku sat.

"Not sure I feel secure on a ship you're flying." I said to Rikku, who snorted.

"I'm not flying. Brother is." She said.

"Oh, is that better?" I asked and she laughed. Yuna then turned to Brother.

"Yuna…has my talking…gotten better?" Brother asked.

"Oh yes. Keep practising." Yuna said and pulled me towards Buddy.

"He said he practised just so he could speak to me more." Yuna said.

"How nice." I said sarcastically.

"I'm still analysing. And you shut up!" Buddy said, interrupting Brother.

"Buddy and Brother are old friends. He is the one who scans for sphere waves. Did you know Buddy was on board the airship two years ago?" Yuna asked.

"Is that so? Then he should have known what I am." I said.

"When you showed us that ball, I remembered. Sorry for forgetting." Buddy said.

"Quite alright." I said, and Yuna pulled me towards Paine. Rikku also came running up to us.

"This is Paine. I look up to her as a sphere hunter and as a friend…" Yuna whispered to me.

"…Paine is a very good sphere hunter, and she fights well too." Yuna said.

"But she doesn't say much." Rikku said. Then they noticed Paine's expression. She looked anxious, like she was waiting for a verdict of some sort.

"Nice to see you again Paine." I said and smiled. Yuna and Rikku looked at me questionably. Then Paine bowed and both Yuna and Rikku looked really surprised.

"Nice to see you again master." Paine said when she straightened up, and smiled at me.

"M…m…master?" Rikku stammered.

"I didn't expect you to become a sphere hunter. Are you having fun?" I asked, but Rikku interrupted.

"What did she mean by 'master'?" she asked. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Rikku, remember about five years ago? Master Shan left and I said that I was going to take on an apprentice?" I asked.

"Yeah, but the next time I see you, you're a summoner along with Yunie." Rikku said.

"Paine was my apprentice, and she was a good wandering guardian as well, but she quit about two years after she joined." I said.

"If I had stayed any longer, I would have lost my sanity. It was because of you master, that I'm still sane. Those were some terrible days." Paine said. I smiled grimly.

"I know. It still is. Even now, with the Eternal Calm, fiends pose a big threat to people, and wandering guardians still wander. They will always do." I said sadly.

"Wait, Paine couldn't make it two years in that group and you did twelve?" Rikku asked.

"That is why I was so excited to start working under him. In the wandering guardians, the ranks are formed by how long someone stays. The ones, who are a wandering guardian the longest, have the most authority and power. Master holds the record for longest active duty, and to be accepted an apprentice of one of the top three wandering guardians is a huge honour. Master had lots to teach me, and I remember most of it even now. It really has helped even after I left." Paine said.

"Paine was an excellent student, and she soaked up my techniques very fast. But some aren't cut out to be a wandering guardian for long, and she did the right thing leaving when she did." I said and smiled at her.

"And here you are, reunited and working together again. Cool." Rikku said. Paine responded by crossing her arms.

Just then, Buddy called.

"Hey, get over here. I'm finished." He said and we walked over. Rikku pulled me back a bit.

"Hey, can you tell me about Paine. She doesn't like to talk about herself." Rikku said. Yuna also seemed to want to know, but Paine tensed.

"Sure. Why not. Paine is a woman with red eyes and silver hair. She is skilled with the sword, which I gave her by the way, and a good friend to boot. Very loyal if she respects you and find you worthy." I said and Rikku pouted.

"I knew that. I mean juzy stories of her past." She said. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Nope. Won't tell you." I said and Rikku pouted even more.

"Hey, pay attention. We have treasure sphere waves! They're coming from those ruins they found at Gagazet." Buddy said.

"Alright!" Rikku said, obviously excited.

"Next stop! Gagazet!" Brother yelled.

--

"Hey, the rocks are floating." Yuna said.

"Don't tell me we gotta climb up that thing?" Rikku whined.

"No worries. I'll take you to the top." Buddy said when we arrived and saw the floating ruins above Gagazet. Moments later we jumped of the ship to stand on a ledge, looking up at the ruins.

"Careful. These rocks are slippery." Paine said.

"Don't look down." I said. Of course, that only made Yuna look down. I had started walking when I heard a gasp and Paine and Rikku yell: "Yuna!" I spun around and saw Yuna fall of the edge. Paine and Rikku managed to catch her, but the rock under their feet broke, and they fell too.

"Oh shit." I said and jumped after them.

"What's your status?" Brother asked.

"Disasterrific" Rikku replied.

"That is not a word. Say 'disastrous' like the rest of Spira!" Brother scolded. Just then, the three girls landed on a rock. I cursed as I flew by. The girls managed to hear me say:

"Oh shit" closely followed by: "Now that was a stupid idea."

"Rikku, come in!" Brother said.

"You want me to hurt him?" Paine asked.

"That'd be great!" Rikku said. Then what had happened registrated in their minds.

"SALMAR!" all three girls yelled and peered over the edge. They saw a hole in the layer of clouds under us. Then they heard something land behind them.

"Phew, that was a little close for comfort. Did you know that clouds are very wet?" I said and the three girls looked at me.

"How?" Rikku began.

"My new ability. Remember?" I said and shook my head before looking upwards.

"You three alright?" I asked and they nodded. I smiled and grabbed their hands and the four elements surrounded us and suddenly we were standing where we had fallen.

"Hey, we're back." Rikku said.

"I'm sorry. Guess I don't cope with heights very well." Yuna said.

"No kidding." Paine replied.

"Come in!" Brother yelled over the comlink.

"We're here. Everything is fine now!" Yuna said, and Brother sighed in relief.

"Yuna, keep an eye on Rikku!" Brother said.

"Yes sir." Yuna replied. I snorted and started walking again.

--

We walked, ran, jumped and climbed until we came to a big chasm.

"We're not getting across this way." Rikku said.

"Let's find another route." Paine said and we started to climb downwards. We came to what looked like a dead end. Yuna, Rikku and Paine stepped onto a square on the ground, and Yuna looked at a button on the wall.

"Think this machina still works?" she asked.

"Try it." Rikku said. Yuna touched the button and the elevator started moving.

"Hey, wait for me!" I said and jumped after them. But just as I jumped, the elevator went into freefall mode and I found myself in the air with nothing under me.

"Not again." I said as I fell down. The elevator stopped suddenly.

"It stopped." Yuna panted.

"Owie." Rikku said. Then they hear a yell and a bang and I lay in a heap in the middle of the elevator.

"If you think you have it bad, look at him." Paine said.

"Not funny." I mumbled.

"What happened? Is Yuna okay?" Brother asked.

"Things are…disasterrific." Yuna said.

"Disasterrific? I am on my way!" Brother said.

"What about me?" Rikku whined.

"He sure likes you babe." I groaned and tried to sit up. Paine walked over and helped me, winching as my dislocated joints popped back into place.

"Well, I'm not leaving you, if that's what you're afraid of." Yuna said and crouched down by me.

"Heh, never crossed my mind." I said with a weak smile.

"Can you walk?" Paine asked. I tried to stand up and Paine and Yuna helped me. I stumbled a bit before standing still.

"Give me a little space. I think I'll be able to walk in my Fire Lord state." I said. Yuna and Paine backed a bit of, and I brought out my power. I could feel it surge trough my body and focus on my damaged bones, speeding up the healing.

"Okay, let's go." I said and shakingly took a step and started walking.

--

After a lot of(rather painful) climbing, we came to a flat path and started running there. The girls had to slow down a bit, since I couldn't keep up.

Then suddenly we heard a gasp from behind us. Turning we saw the woman who had stolen Yuna's sphere.

"Who are you?" Rikku asked.

"L…Leblanc. Remember that name well loves." Leblanc said. I snorted but winced when I tried to move. Yuna noticed and laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah, the thief!" Yuna said tiredly and I chuckled at her tone.

"Whatever do you mean? Ugh, that's what I hate about amateurs…" Leblanc said.

"Maybe she'll go away if we ignore her." Rikku said.

"You! I head that!" Leblanc said angrily. "Just as I was saying: amateurs!"

I was about to reply when I remembered I was injured. Not immobilized, but in a less than favourable situation.

"They know nothing about what it takes to be a true sphere hunter." Leblanc continued.

"She's really annoying. Does anyone have a X-potion? I want to show her who is the amateur." I said.

"Besides, you call us amateurs? Weren't you following us?" Paine said stiffly. Yuna and Rikku were searching trough their pouches to see if they could find a X-potion.

"Following? A mere coincidence." Leblanc said. Then the fat guy showed up.

"Hey boss, following those Gullwings really paid of." He said and I laughed.

"Coincidence huh?" I asked and Leblanc growled, while the girls laughed as well.

"Laugh while you can. Ormi, show them how you fight." Leblanc said. The fat man, apparently named Ormi spun and swung his shield at Yuna. She dodged and I was about to move but I felt the tip of a gun against my temple.

"Don't move or I'll blow your brains out." The tall man said.

"Good job Logos." Leblanc said.

"Thank you boss!" Logos said.

"Hey, get away from him." Yuna said.

"Not a chance. Now give us your spheres or we'll be forced to take actions." Leblanc said. At that I yawned. That enraged Leblanc.

"Hey, I'm talking about blowing your brains out. Pay attention!" she commanded.

"Does anyone at least have a potion? I really want to be able to move now." I said. Rikku smiled and threw a potion at me. I felt a little better, not much but enough.

"What are you going to do?" Logos asked me.

"Would you be terribly disappointed if I said 'kill you'?" I asked. Logos tensed up when he hear that and I saw my chance. I rammed an elbow into his stomach, and the other into his temple. He stumbled backwards and I grabbed his guns, and with a surge of fire, melted them. He recovered quickly though, and ran over to Leblanc.

"It was a mistake to try and hurt my husband!" Yuna said angrily.

"You'll pay for that!" Paine said and Rikku joined in: "Yeah! Yeah!"

"Don't think so!" Leblanc said and threw a smoke bomb on the ground. She and her two minions then started to run towards the top.

"No fair. We have an injured person here. We can't run as fast as you!" Rikku yelled after the fleeing people.

"Wow, thanks Rikku. Now I feel all better." I said sarcastically.

"So that was the Leblanc syndicate. I'm sure we'll run into them sooner or later." Paine said. I snorted and placed a hand on Rikku and Paine's shoulders.

"Hey babe. Hang on!" I said. Yuna looked puzzled before hugging me. A small eruption of elements later and we were right in front of Leblanc and her two pests. They were startled and tumbled over the edge of the cliff and barely had time to hang on to the edge.

"Let's go. A sphere awaits." I said and we continued to climb. We walked trough a doorway and found ourselves in a huge hall. At the end a door was located but above the door was a spider like fiend.

"It figures we'd run into something like this." Rikku said.

"It comes!" Paine warned before the spider landed before us. The girls rushed forward and attacked. I decided to sit this one out and watch. The fiend didn't have a chance and after it fell, we went trough the door.

"Why didn't you help?" Rikku asked.

"Didn't think I had to. You three did just great without me limping around." I said. Then we found the sphere on a pedestal in the middle of a room. Just as Yuna was about to take it, Leblanc came limping in. She tried to compose herself, but it was rather ruined by her face contracting in pain.

"It's obvious to the trained eye, that sphere is just a dud. Perfect for the Dullwings." She said arrogantly. When she turned to leave, Rikku giggled.

"Youth wins again!" she said and Yuna picked up the sphere.

"I guess we'll be taking this." she said and did an exited bounce.

"That's new. Someone's gotten cheerful since last time we travelled together." I said and Yuna blushed a bit. She turned from slight pink to scarlet when I laughed and said:

"I like it. We'll have to find more spheres so Yuna can bounce again."

The room was filled with laughter after that.

--

* * *

Sequel to 'Of wandering guardians and summoning arts'. I hope the honourable readers will enjoy it as much as possible. 

Read and review please.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a fan fiction based on the ps2 game Final Fantasy X and X-2. I have no rights to this game, names or characters from the game. That right belongs to Square Enix. This story is based on the game and may differ slightly from the game play.

"Regular speech"

" VERY LOUD YELLING OR VERY LOUD SPEECH."

'thought'

"_Song"_

(A/N: my notes during the story. Stands for author's notes)

-- paragraph

* * *

We walked out of the room we had gotten the sphere in and the airship flew up.

"Brother, mission complete." Rikku said.

"Brother? He's not with you?" Buddy asked. We boarded and found Brother lying in the bridge.

"He said something about Yuna being in trouble and jumped ship." Buddy said. Rikku walked up to him and said: "He's alive, right? Let's just leave him."

"Can you analyse the sphere?" Paine asked Shinra.

"I'm on it." he said and I turned to leave.

"I'm going to rest in our room, watch the sphere before waking me okay?" I said to Yuna, who nodded. I carefully walked away, took the elevator to the cabin, waved at Barkeep, went into my and Yuna's room and plopped down on the bed. Instantly I was asleep. I didn't even notice the attention call from Buddy and I fell into even deeper sleep when I returned to my normal state. I had been using my power to move, and now I didn't have to. So it started to heal me instead.

--

I woke up when Yuna shook me and called my name.

"Okay…okay. I'm up. I'm up. Where's the fire?" I asked while I sat up and rubbed my eyes, my body still sore, but fine otherwise.

"We've got sphere weaves and are nearly in Zanarkand. Do you feel well enough to come with us?" Yuna said and I nodded.

"Sure, I'll go. Just a bit sore, that's all." I said and Yuna grinned before pulling me out of the bed.

"We're here!" Buddy's voice rang over the speakers. I and the girls jumped of the ship a little away from the shore we had held the wedding at when we were her last time.

Walking towards the shore, Rikku was exited. She was telling Paine about what we had done here.

"This is where we sat before Yunie and Flames got married. They stood on the hill there with all the people, and when they slipped the rings on, I couldn't help but…people?" Rikku said surprised.

Indeed, lot's of people were here, walking around, standing where I and Yuna had said "I do" to each other.

"What's with all the people?" Paine asked. She then noticed that both I and Yuna were really mad.

"Who's responsible for this?" I said and Paine winced at my tone, she knew it all too well.

I spotted someone who appeared to be having some sort of tour. I marched up to him, Yuna trying to keep up. The figure turned and looked at Yuna.

"Yuna?" he asked and she nodded.

"Then this must be Salmar. How nice to see you both again." He said.

"Isaaru?" Yuna asked and he nodded.

"That's me. How do you do?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm well, happy with my life and my husband." Yuna said and leaned against me.

"So the rumours are true, the two High Summoners did get married. I was wondering if it was true or not." Isaaru said.

"Yes, it is true, but please, tell us what is happening here." Yuna requested.

"Ah, I figured you would be curious. I am helping Cid with his work." Isaaru said. I turned a questioning gaze at Rikku.

"Don't look at me" she said defensibly.

"I guide people trough Zanarkand, once the most sacred of all places. People come from all over Spira. Sphere hunters, too." Isaaru said and Yuna sighed sadly.

"You seem saddened by this. Why?" Isaaru asked.

"Where we stand now, this very place…" I said and gestured to the hill we were on. "…is the place Yuna and I got married." I said and Isaaru smiled.

"I figured as much. It seems only fitting for the two High Summoners to be married in this place." He said and I nodded. Rikku was mad.

"Ugh! What the heck is Pop thinking?" she said and walked away.

"You're upset, and I can understand why, but this is a place of great historical importance for all of Spira." Isaaru said.

"I know, but…still…I never wanted anyone else to stand there!" Yuna said weakly.

"Yuna?" Isaaru asked worriedly

"Nothing. Forget it." Yuna said, shaking her head.

"If you say so. Oh, I must be returning to work now. Take care Yuna and Salmar." Isaaru said and left. Yuna stood next to me with her head bowed. I looked at her before pulling her into a hug.

"If you wish, I can release the restraints of the elements here." I said and Yuna looked at me.

"The only problem is that it would probably destroy what's left of Zanarkand. And would seriously mess up the other elemental restraints." I said and Yuna chuckled slightly.

"That's alright, thanks for trying to cheer me up though. But I think we should try and find my dear uncle." Yuna said, the dear uncle part was spoken very coldly.

Yuna and I started walking towards the stadium and when we got there, we saw Cid's airship.

We went over to the stadium entrance and saw three kids talk and go into the stadium. They said something about a clue being "key".

"What was that about?" I asked but the girls just shook their heads and we went into the stadium as well.

--

Inside the stadium we saw the three kids again. They ran ahead and tried to find the way.

We followed for a while before one of them turned and addressed Yuna.

"Lady Yuna, do you remember me?" one of the kids asked.

"Sure I do Pacce." Yuna said and he cheered.

"You remembered. Wee!" Pacce said while jumping up and down.

He then introduced his companions as Hana and Taro. Hana said hello but Taro looked at me for a while.

"What are you doing here? There are fiends around!" Yuna said. The three kids laughed at that.

"We laugh at fiends. Because we're sphere hunters!" Pacce claimed. The three kids then got into a stance and yelled: "The Kinderguardians!"

Yuna, Rikku and Paine smiled and got into their own stance, with Yuna kneeling in front with her guns aimed and ready, Paine slightly behind Yuna on her left side, holding her sword in what I recognised as the ready stance and Rikku parallel to Paine on Yuna's right side, her daggers in hands. I felt strangely out of place watching the show.

"We're the Gullwings!" Yuna said. They remained in their stances for a few moments before standing up again.

"You here on some kind of treasure hunt?" Rikku asked.

"And 'key' is a clue to finding the treasure. Right?" Yuna asked. Pacce nodded furiously.

"Yeah, it is. We're gonna find the treasure with that clue." Pacce said.

"Shhh! We paid fifteen whole gil for that! Let's go!" Hana said. Pacce nodded and they were about to go when Taro stepped towards me.

"Um…excuse me, but are you Lord Salmar?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Oh wow. My dad has told me so much about you. He said you and your apprentice saved him from a lot of fiends once." He said. I smiled at that.

"I'm glad. Is your father okay?" I asked and Taro nodded.

"Yeah, but he will be so jealous when he hears I talked with you. But I have to go now. Bye Lord Salmar." The boy said and followed his friends who waved at us. Rikku then nudged me in the ribs.

"Sooo…Lord Salmar has a fan club!" she teased.

"Paine also has a fan club. She was a wandering guardian for a short time, but managed to do some great things. But yes, I have a fan club, although it is a small one. I never did like the fame being a senior wandering guardian brought." I explained. Rikku was about to ask Paine something when she started walking away.

"Can we go now?" she asked and I followed, chuckling slightly.

--

We rounded a bend and saw one of Leblanc's goons stand there talking into his comlink. He said something about the real clue being 'mon' and not 'key'.

"So the clues are 'mon' and 'key'" Paine said. The goon whirled around and stared at us.

"The Dullwings. You're not getting away this time." The goon said and attacked. This time I wanted to fight, and the next thing he knew was that he was flying in the opposite direction he had intended and landed rather harshly in a pile of rubble.

I dusted of my hands and we continued our walk. After a while we came to the elevator that took us down into the chambers of the Final Aeon.

There we found Cid. I felt like strangling him, but Yuna stopped me.

"Well I'll be. If it isn't Yuna." The bald Al Bhed practically yelled.

"Come to buy a clue from uncle Cid, have you?" he asked.

"Why…you…!" I said, but Yuna held me back.

"What's up with him?" Cid asked.

"What are you thinking? Turning this place into a gift shop? Hello!" Rikku said and Cid got a puzzled expression on his face.

"What, you got a bone to pick?" Cid asked.

"Yes. This…is just wrong!" Yuna said softly but sternly, still struggling to hold me back.

"Huh?" Cid asked.

"This is just as bad as if we were to make the ruins of Home into a theme park!" Rikku said.

"Huh?" Cid said

"Besides, this is where Yuna and I got married. We wanted to cherish the memories we have here, and come back to see this place look the same as it used to, but now its crowed with people, and its bound to be littering and stuff like that." I said. Cid thought for a moment before he hung his head.

"I see your point." He said sadly and left. We looked after him, before we went into Yunalesca's chambers. A lot of monkeys lived there now, and when we walked into the area where we fought Yunalesca two years ago, a strange voice suddenly made its self known.

"Mohahahahaha. You have done well to make it this far, sphere hunters. But you will not get the treasure you seek sooo easily." The voice said.

"Then we fight!" Paine shouted.

"If you want the treasure, you must speak the password." The voice said.

"Password?" Paine asked.

"Oh, I know!" Rikku said, but I beat her to it.

"Monkey!" I simply said and received a bonk on the head from a pouting blonde.

""Um…yes. Now tell me, what is the meaning of life?" the voice asked.

"For me or for you?" I asked.

"Wait, isn't there something familiar with that voice?" Yuna asked.

"Now that you mention it…" Paine said.

"Isaaru?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah, that's got to be him." Rikku said.

"Is that…your final answer?" the voice asked.

"The jig is up. Come on out Isaaru." Rikku yelled.

"uh…Fine." Isaaru said and emerged behind us. We turned and looked at he walked towards us, looking slightly shameful.

"Um, what are you doing?" Yuna asked.

"My job. I bring excitement to those that come to visit this sacred place. I too once travelled and hoped to see this place someday. Working here somehow fulfils that wish." Isaaru said, using his normal voice.

"I see…" Yuna said, slightly lowering her head.

"I must apologize for the quiz. Here is something for your trouble." Isaaru said and handed Yuna a garment grid.

"Kay, thanks for coming. And remember, the ruins of Zanarkand will be waiting." He said in his lame voice again. He then left and I shook my head.

"Ex-summoners come in all flavours." Paine said.

"Apparently so." Yuna replied with a little laugh.

"That sure was strange. Shall we find the sphere now?" I asked and the girls nodded.

--

We searched a bit and found a stairway we followed down to find a hall. In that hall we sighted the sphere but a huge fiend was blocking the path.

"Aw man, not again." I said.

"Didn't we fight that thing on mount Gagazet?" Yuna asked.

"This must be another one then." Paine said dryly.

"Think we need a password?" Rikku asked.

"How about 'kick-its-ass'" Paine said in a tone I recognised.

"Is Paine falling back into hold habits?" I asked and she smirked.

"With you here, it's not so hard." She replied.

"Guys, we can joke all we want when the fiend is dead." Rikku said.

"No problem." I said and drew Caladbolg.

Paine and I charged at the fiend while Yuna fired a couple of shots at it. Rikku changed into the black mage dressphere. When she was done, she charged up a Firaga spell and killed the fiend with it.

After the fiend was gone, we walked over to get the sphere, to find half a sphere.

"What the? Only half a sphere." I said.

"All that, for nothing." Paine sighed.

"It can't hurt to take it with us." Rikku said and Yuna sighed.

"I can't believe how much this place has changed." she said and I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Hey, don't worry babe. We'll find a way to protect it." I said and she smiled at me before leaning her head on my shoulder.

"I hope so." She said.

--

We boarded the ship and immediately set course for Besaid. Yuna was a little nervous. Understandable though. She did leave without saying a word, making the whole village become worried.

"So, the runaway ex-summoner returns!" I said jokingly and Yuna blushed.

"Perhaps I should have left word that I left." She said and I nodded.

"Perhaps you should. Wakka and Lulu were worried." I said and Rikku scraped the ground nervously with her foot.

"I hope they aren't mad, with you leaving like that." She said.

"Yeah, you caused quite a fuss young lady!" Wakka said, appearing at the gates of the village. Yuna gasped before looking down.

"I'm sorry." Yuna said and Wakka waved her off.

"Nah, its okay. You're having fun?" he asked and Yuna nodded. Wakka then looked at me.

"Glad to see you're okay too. Last time I saw you, you were bleeding and your clothes were shredded. I like the outfit though." he said and I laughed.

"Being injured gets old fast. And I couldn't walk around in rags now, could I?" I said and Wakka chuckled also before catching sight of Paine, who as usual stood a little distance away from us. She had picked up that habit on our travels, and I hadn't been able to make her stop.

"Your friend?" he asked. Yuna turned and looked at Paine.

"Oh, this is Paine. We're looking for spheres together." Yuna said. Rikku leaned in to Wakka.

"She is also Salmar's former apprentice." Rikku said, just loud enough for Paine to hear. Paine didn't reply but just nodded softly to Wakka, who replied with a nod of his own.

"So you're a sphere hunter now…I heard the rumours. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too worried. I knew you could take care of your self and when Salmar left, I felt sure he would find you. Looks like I was right. But, I got to say, you…do…seem pretty different." Wakka said. Yuna laughed slightly at that.

"I for one like her change. Yuna seems much more full of life now." I said and Yuna blushed a bit. Rikku gently elbowed Wakka in the ribs.

"You haven't changed a bit, tubby!" she said.

"Hey, I'm gonna be a father soon. Gotta have a little more presence, you know?" Wakka said.

"How much longer?" Yuna asked.

"Any day now!" Wakka replied.

"Wakka, a daddy." Rikku said dreamingly.

"I sure don't feel like one. How am I supposed to know how to act and all that?" Wakka asked.

"Just do what your parents did." Rikku said. Wakka shook his head.

"Don't remember em. Sin saw to that when I was still little." He said.

"You don't have any spheres of them?" Yuna asked.

"No, not a single…wait!" Wakka replied and thought for a bit.

"What?" Rikku asked after a while.

"Oh, no nothing. Anyway, you should go say hello to Lu. She's been worried about you." Wakka said and started to walk away. We were about to go to Wakka and Lulu's tent when Wakka stopped and turned to Paine with a weird glint in his eyes.

"So, how was it to be the apprentice of the 'fire demon'?" Wakka asked, the fire demon part was said jokingly, but Paine winced at that, before regaining her composure.

"I guess it was okay." Paine said simply and Wakka raised an eyebrow, wondering about the short answer.

"Paine isn't the talkative type." Yuna said and Wakka nodded slowly.

"I see. Oh well. You be sure to pay Lu a visit now." he said and walked away. I went up to Paine and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I know you don't like that nickname, but I have learned to live with it. Besides, he was joking." I said softly so that neither Yuna nor Rikku heard.

"I know, but master. It's just so unfair that you have to be called that when the real demons never get treated like that." Paine said, the sorrow in her voice evident.

"I know, but as I said, I have learned to live with it. Now come on, we're going to see Lulu." I said, let go of her shoulder and walked over to Lulu's hut. Knocking on the wooden entryway, I heard her give permission to enter. I walked in, just hearing Rikku start to ask Paine about what I had talked to her about.

Yuna came in right after me and Rikku and Paine followed shortly, Rikku pouting since Paine probably didn't want to tell anything and even more probably reduced Rikku's respect points.

Lulu didn't look pregnant, but I could feel something with her energy. She radiated a happy energy and I smiled at her. She looked and probably felt happy, and smiled back.

"Welcome back." Lulu said and Yuna placed her hands on her back and moved a little nervously back and forward.

"Hi Lulu." She said smilingly.

"So tell us about the baby! It's gonna be born soon, right?" Rikku asked.

"Not yet. Wakka is getting a little ahead of himself." Lulu said.

"Aw, bummer." Rikku said and Lulu stood up carefully.

"You look real happy Lulu. Guest that means everything is okay then?" I asked and Lulu nodded.

"Yes, thank you. By the way, care to go for a little walk?" She asked, walking past us.

"Can you?" Yuna asked.

"I could use the exercise. Come on." Lulu said and left the hut. We followed and we walked in silence for a while until we came to the statue overlooking the village. Lulu and Yuna talked and watched the sphere that had made Yuna become a sphere hunter. I stood with Paine, looking out over the sea. Rikku stood close, listening in to what Paine and I said.

Paine was silently watching Yuna and Lulu before turning to me.

"Isn't the gathering soon?" Paine asked and I absently nodded.

"Yes, it is. In the Calm Lands. I suspect you got an invitation." I said and Paine nodded.

"What is the gathering?" Rikku asked.

"It is a meeting for wandering guardians. It is held every two years. This will be Paine's first time participating. All wandering guardians, exes and their families get invited. This will be my sixth time, more than anyone else." I said.

"Wow, can I come?" Rikku asked. I looked at Paine who looked indifferently.

"That is up to Paine. You have to be invited by a wandering guardian, and I'm taking Yuna. If you are going, Paine has to invite you." I said and Rikku looked pleadingly at Paine.

"Fine. You can come with me." Paine said and Rikku cheered. Just then, Lulu suddenly bent slightly and a little gasp escaped her lips.

"What is it?" Yuna asked.

"It kicked." Lulu said and Rikku rushed over to her.

"I wanna feel." She said. I chuckled at that and shook the thought of the gathering from my head.

--

We walked back to the village and Lulu told us to at least spend the night. We agreed and Lulu walked back to her hut. The girls and I walked and stood next to the temple, looking out to the sea.

"Flames, tell me more about this gathering of yours." Rikku said excitedly. Yuna, who was holding my hand, gave it a slight squeeze and looked at me.

"You told her?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yes, I did, but no more than I told you." I said and Yuna looked at me suspiciously.

"What?" I asked, faking innocence.

"Nothing. So, can you tell us a bit more about this gathering?" Yuna asked. The three girls focused all their attention on me, and even Paine looked interested.

"I am the one who will lead the gathering, since I am the one with the most experience and wandering years behind me. The so called…" I began but Paine interrupted me.

"The high senior." She said and I nodded.

"High senior?" Rikku asked.

"The one who has been in the wandering guardians the longest. I am that person, although I rather not lead this meeting. But I can't back away now." I said and gave a short sigh.

"Hey, so I am married to the leader of the wandering guardians?" Yuna asked and Paine nodded.

"Wow, Yunie. You'll probably be treated like a queen at the gathering." Rikku said. Paine and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. Yuna and Rikku looked at us as if we were crazy. I managed to regain my composure long enough to say:

"If she wants to be treated like a queen, I have to do it myself. The last time a high senior's wife thought she get any special treatment, she got a free view of a mud pit. The ones that threw her in said it would be great for her skin. If Yuna wants to keep her dignity, she won't say anything abut special treatment."

Both Yuna and Rikku stood there open mouthed at that.

"What kind of barbarians are those wandering guardians? No offence!" Yuna said shocked.

"None taken." Paine said smugly.

"We…or should I say They aren't. But as I have said before, the life of a wandering guardian is a difficult one, and they take every chance at some fun they get. It is a way to keep sane. That poor woman was just at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong words just spoken." I explained and Paine nodded to show that I wasn't kidding.

"Well…good. I don't want to be thrown into a mud pit." Yuna said.

"Don't worry Yuna. I'm sure they wouldn't dare do that to you. Master would stop them." Paine said. I grinned at that.

"She's right. No one is going to dirty out my babe, except me." I said playfully and Yuna reddened. From anger or blushing I'm not sure. After a moment, Yuna's redness went down and she said smugly:

"You better not. Or else…"

I paled at that, and the three girls broke down laughing. Or rather, Yuna and Rikku broke down laughing. Paine just smirked broadly.

--

We walked back to our hut and spent the night there. Wakka and Lulu came over and joined us, and we had a good time catching up again. When they left, I and Yuna fell asleep in each others arms, both smiling happily.

--

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was Yuna. Or rather, the lack of Yuna. She wasn't lying next to me and I got up and looked around. Then I heard voices, and then Yuna, Rikku, Paine and Lulu walked in.

"Hello sleepyhead." Rikku said. I glared slightly at her before Yuna sat down next to me.

"Wakka is acting strange. He left this morning without saying a word to Lulu." Yuna said worriedly.

"He said something about a cave. We have heard around the village a bit and we found out that there is a cave near the forked road by the beach. We also found some strange numbers." Lulu said.

"What kind of numbers?" I asked

"I think they open some sort of door." Rikku said and Paine nodded.

"Okay, and now you want us to go see if Wakka is alright?" I asked and Lulu nodded.

"He can take care of himself, but I would feel better if I knew you were with him. It's not like Wakka to hide things." Lulu said worriedly and I smiled.

"Of course. Shall we go girls?" I asked and they nodded. I got dressed quickly and we went out of the village.

--

We found the forked road quick enough, but the door was harder to locate. After searching for a long while, we found a panel where we could input some numbers. I looked at the panel for a while before calling the girls over. Rikku looked at the panel and grinned.

"What were those numbers again?" she asked.

Paine retold the numbers and Rikku punched them in.

"1846" she said and the door beeped and opened.

"Hey, Rikku saves the day!" Rikku said and jumped up and down.

"Don't let it go to your head little one!" I said and went inside the cave. I could hear Rikku sulking and muttering: "I'm not little…."

--

We walked in and found Wakka sitting on the floor of the cave, deep in thought.

"Wakka!" Yuna and Rikku yelled and ran up to him. Paine and I walked slowly. Wakka looked up at us and Yuna crouched down next to him.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked and I rolled my eyes.

"That's our line. Lulu is worried about you." I said and he looked slightly guilty.

"Talking to you guys yesterday, I remembered something Chappu said to me once. We fought over something and he told me about a sphere of our parents, but said he wouldn't tell me where it was, other than it was in a cave. After talking with you, I wanted to find it, but when I got here, I began to think." Wakka explained and I snickered.

"Never a good idea." I said softly and Paine snorted.

"I began to wonder. What if the sphere isn't real? What if it is? I don't even know if I want to watch it. So I sat down here and started to think things trough, and then you four showed up." Wakka explained and I nodded before heading deeper into the cave with the girls following me close behind.

"Wait, where are you going?" Wakka called after us.

"To get that sphere. We are sphere hunters after all." I said and we continued into the cave.

--

The cave was long and dark, and Rikku didn't let us forget that she didn't like dark, and to her, scary caves.

"It's so dark in here. Do I really have to come?" she moaned and Paine lost her patience.

"Complain again and I will hurt you." She growled and Rikku wisely shut up.

After beating a couple of walking fish, and coming to a fork in the path, the radio beeped.

"This is Brother. Are you okay Yuna?" Brother asked.

"Yessir!" Yuna replied in her usual happy tone. I couldn't help but smile at that. 'Always happy. Well, almost anyway.' I thought while watching my wife. Apparently Rikku and Paine weren't as amused.

"Just ignore him." Rikku advised and Paine nodded. I shook my head while walking down what turned out to be a dead end. So we had to turn back and go the other way.

--

After a while, and a bit of annoying jumping on crumbling pillars of rock, we saw the sphere in front of us. Unfortunately a fiend was there as well. A huge fire breathing lizard actually, that liked to stand really close to us and practically breathe down our necks.

"Find the sphere and the fiends appear." Paine said, half turning to look at the fiend.

"Do you think it will go away if we ignore it?" I asked and Yuna chuckled.

"Let's just kick it around a bit and get it over with. Lizards annoy me." Rikku said and pulled out her daggers. Paine brandished her sword and grinned.

"I agree with Rikku! Let's show it not to breathe down our necks." She said and I shook my head before pulling out Caladbolg and reading myself.

The fiend started by blasting Yuna with a fireball, which simply passed her without doing anything to her. Instead she shot a couple of times at it before she decided to change dressphere. She began to change into her black mage dress, and the fiend tried to stop her, but I blocked its attack. Paine and Rikku attacked with their weapons, making the fiend fall back a little. Then Yuna was finished changing and began to power up a Blizzaga. I guarded her to make sure the fiend didn't attack her, but it didn't get the chance since Rikku and Paine were constantly chasing it around. It was kind of funny watching, but then Yuna cast her spell and the fiend was killed. When the fiend was gone, we walked up to the sphere and retrieved it. Yuna did her bounce thing again and we went back to Wakka, who hadn't moved at all.

--

"Find anything?" Wakka asked while standing up. Rikku bounced happily while Yuna showed Wakka the sphere.

"Sure thing. Wanna take a look?" she asked and Wakka nodded.

We watched the sphere, which only showed us some scenery.

"This is?" Rikku asked but Wakka shook his head.

"Nah, 'fraid not." He said sadly

"Wakka, if you wanted to find the sphere, why didn't you just find it?" I asked

"Sin got our parents not long after Chappu was born. We were both too young to remember their faces, you know? I was to boneheaded to ask Chappu where he found that sphere and now its to late. But then again, I don't know if I really want to know how my parents were." Wakka said and I looked curiously at him.

"Why not?" I asked. We started walking back towards the village.

"See, I got this picture of my parents in my head, ya? Strong, and kind…Whenever things got tough, those were the parents I imagined. But what if they weren't like that. That thought made me stop." Wakka explained and I nodded understandingly.

"I understand. I too have a similar picture of my parents." I said and everyone turned to me.

"Huh?" Rikku asked and I continued to walk.

"I never knew much about my father. He died about a week or so before my brother and sister were born, and my mother died when I was five. So I don't remember my dad at all and what I remember of my mother was how nice she was to me, how pretty she was, how kind and wise. Yuna reminds me of her a lot. I know mother would have loved Yuna.

I have always imagined my father to be strong and gentle, like my master was. But I don't know if he was like that." I said while looking towards the sky.

"Where are your brother and sister now?" Wakka asked. I looked down on the ground and Paine swallowed silently although both Yuna and Rikku saw it.

"Dead. They died almost five years ago." I said sadly.

"Oh, sorry. Seems we both have a bad past with parents and siblings." Wakka said and I nodded.

"But, what's past is past, ya? Can't let it get to us. I am going to be a father soon. Gotta pull it together!" Wakka said wisely and I smiled at him.

"That's right Dad!" Rikku teased. Wakka pumped a fist in the air before becoming worried again.

"But, uh…how am I supposed to pull it together? Sure wish I had something to go by, you know?" he asked and I nearly tripped in surprise.

"You and Lulu will be alright." Yuna said and Wakka nodded.

Then the comlink beeped.

"You read me? You four about finished down there? Brother's starting to get on my nerves." Buddy complained and I laughed at that.

"Yeah, we will be back soon." Yuna said and Brother yelled in joy.

"That guy is really weird." I mumbled to myself.

--

We boarded the ship and Brother said something about incoming data. The girls ran to the bridge, while I followed lazily. I arrived and heard Buddy say something about a awesome sphere in Kilika woods.

"I want that sphere." Yuna said and Rikku nodded.

"It's as good as ours. Let's scramble!" She said.

"Who is the leader? I am. I give the orders around here!" Brother said.

"Oh, just get a move on. Yuna wants that sphere, so let's go get it." I said and Brother agreed, although he mumbled something about lost leadership respect.

--

"Wow, Kilika port sure has changed since last time." Yuna said and I looked at her.

"Huh? I don't see anything different than it was the last time I was here." I said playfully.

"That was not two years ago. I haven't been here since before we defeated Sin, remember?" Yuna huffed and I laughed a bit.

She was right though. Kilika had been completely rebuilt, and was a bustling town now, thanks to the Youth League, which has its head quarters here.

When we landed, we looked around a bit and started walking towards the town centre. We were met by a red midget and a band of musicians. The midget introduced himself as Tobli and told us about some show he was going to put up. I didn't pay much attention, but I heard him say he was going to hold the show in the Moonflow and said he hoped we would join him there. After that we continued walking.

Rikku was as exited as always, bouncing around.

"Where does that girl get her energy?" I asked. Yuna and Paine didn't respond other than silent laughs. Rikku apparently heard, since she came running towards us again. Yuna gave her own exited bounce and the two of them were almost hopping around each other.

"I wonder what the awesome sphere is like." Yuna said

"Well, it's definitely awesome!" Rikku replied and I could see Paine rolling her eyes.

"It will be won't it?" Yuna asked again. Paine rolled her eyes again.

"Keep this up and someone will beat us to it." she said while walking past the two girls.

"Sorry, sorry. Hey, wait up!" Rikku half yelled and ran after her. I shook my head, amused at the spectacle and walked after them.

We were walking past some houses when we heard someone getting kicked out of their home.

"Huh?" I said and looked up to see a big, very familiar man standing outside his door, talking to the door.

"Dona!" he said and I looked at Yuna. She was smiling slightly, although I couldn't see why.

"My,my,my…Fine, have it your way!" A voice I recognised as Dona, the rude summoner said. The big man, now identified as Barthello, sagged his shoulders.

"Dona…." He said sadly

"Go on, leave!" Dona commanded. Barthello took a few moments before trying to go trough the door. When he found it locked, he ran away, screaming. I stared after him before I realised Yuna, Rikku and Paine had left and were now standing outside Dona's door. I quickly made my way up to them. Yuna knocked on the door and Dona allowed us to enter. Reluctantly I followed.

"Why are we here again?" I asked Paine, but before she could answer, Dona spoke up.

"Well look who we have here." she said and walked to stand by the window

"Good to see you." Yuna said. I was tempted to disagree but held my tongue.

"What's with Barthello?" Rikku asked and Dona turned to look at her.

"He's with New Yevon, I am with the Youth League. Nothing out of the ordinary." She said and I shook my head.

'If that's all it takes…' I thought

"It makes living together rather difficult." Dona finished and Rikku groaned.

"But you've been together for so long…" Yuna said and I looked at her.

"To each his own." Paine said and I had to bite my tongue to stop from grinning at Paine's, to me, rather predictable response.

"Exactly, butt out." Dona said. I turned on my heel and left, Paine following close behind. Rikku and Yuna also followed and we went towards the woods, where we saw a gate being guarded.

The guards said that Youth League members should go trough the gate and opened it up to us.

'Do we look like Youth League members?' I thought, but went trough the gate anyway.

--

On the other side of the gates, a huge collection of people were, including Dona. It looked like the group was waiting for something.

"Are all these people sphere hunters?" Yuna asked.

"I don't think so" Paine replied

We walked forwards to see what all the fuss was about.

"Look over there!" Rikku said and pointed over past the crowd. There stood a man in red clothes, his left arm and leg was machina and he had a rather long ponytail. I recognised him as the founder of the Youth League, Nooj. He was walking in front of his loyal followers and prepared a speech.

"Who's that?" Rikku asked.

"Nooj." Paine said and I looked at her. Her tone suggested she knew him.

"Meyvn of the Youth League, right?" Yuna asked and Paine nodded.

"Greetings, friends!" Nooj began and a cheer erupted from the crowd.

"An important sphere is hidden in Kilika Temple. A sphere which shows the true history of Spira. We are here today to demand that New Yevon make the contents of that sphere public. The public has a right to know. Yet, as always, the voice seeking truth goes ignored. My friends, I ask you: why? Because New Yevon wants to hide the truth! Like the temples before them! I tell you now; this has gone on long enough! My friends, stand with me and together we will bring the truth back to the people." Nooj said and the crowd cheered again. Nooj turned to leave, but stopped and half turned back to his audience.

"But… let's not overdo it, our opponents aren't as young as they used to be." He said and left as the crowd laughed at his joke. Four people didn't laugh though; me, Yuna, Paine and Rikku.

"Not exactly what I had expected." Yuna said and I nodded in agreement.

"Hey, that's our sphere! Oh, poopie!" Rikku said and stomped the ground.

"So what now, call it quits?" she asked and Paine crossed her arms.

"Don't know about you, but I could use an awesome sphere!" she said confidently

"Hmm…okay! They can' decide who it belongs to? I say we make it our own." Yuna said half commandingly and I started walking towards the woods.

"What are we waiting for then? Come on!" I said and the girls rushed after me.

--

Inside the woods, things were bordering on chaos. Youth League wanted to go to the temple, New Yevon wouldn't let them.

"This could get bad real fast." I said and the girls nodded. We started to make our way trough the woods, staying on small trails, and that eventually lead us past the security. But we took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end. Just as we were about to turn back, Paine heard voices. We decided to take a little peak.

There was some New Yevon guards talking about two passwords and when they were in use.

"Oh man, I'm no good with those kinds of things." I groaned and Yuna shushed me.

When the commander told the forgetful solider that if he forgot another time he would feed him to the blasted monkeys, we made our way back to the right track and came to the steps where the soldiers were.

'Oh no, is it craven monkey or carved monkey?' I thought but Yuna answered.

"Carved Monkey!" she said. Which was wrong, so we had to fight. After beating the crap out of the guards, we ran on.

I learned something new about Yuna that day. She is just as bad at remembering passwords as I am. Each and every one was wrong, and we had to fight almost a dozen guards, just to get to the top of the stairs.

"Yuna, honey. I think we should ignore the questions for passwords now, and just attack right away. It would save us time." I said after hitting another guard in the head. The poor guy fell to the floor, a huge dent in his helmet. Yuna didn't reply, instead she pouted cutely.

We came to the same spot we fought a Sinspawn two years ago. There was a crowd gathered, New Yevon had a priest who tried to diffuse the situation. We ran up to the crowd just as a Youth League member came running down towards us, yelling: "I got it!"

Behind him though, a huge machina came.

"We can't let you imbeciles have that sphere, can we?" the priest said and made the machina attack.

The machina ran towards us and we started to run away, but it followed. Just before it reached me, I drew Caladbolg, spun around and slid past it while I used Caladbolg to cut of one of the machina's legs. It started to fall on me, but Paine and Yuna attacked it, changing its fall just enough for it to miss me. Then, while it was down, I got up and Paine, Rikku and I used our swords to cleave the damn thing in two, ending its functionality. I noticed Paine was a little rusty with the sword, but decided to leave that till later.

"How do you like that?" Rikku yelled excitedly while I shook my head.

"Phew, that was a little close." I said.

"Don't worry. We won't let you get hurt." Yuna said confidently and I laughed a little at that.

"Hey, we didn't do bad at all!" Yuna said, obviously slightly miffed at my response. I looked at her, and she fell into a stance, raising one of her hands in the air in what looked like a celebrating pose. Paine and I exchanged a glance and had to look away to stop laughing. Yuna looked really funny, not ridiculous, but funny.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Dona asked, bursting Yuna's bubble.

"Actually, we're sphere hunters." Yuna said a little shyly. Everyone fell silent, we could practically hear the dust balls roll past.

"Tough crowd." I mumbled to Paine, who chuckled a bit.

"So?" Dona asked and I wasn't sure if she asked me or Yuna.

"Gullwings, let's go! Sorry, Dona, the sphere is ours." Yuna said and the girls got into their Y.R.P stance again.

'I really have to figure out why they do that.' I thought while eyeing the spectacle.

Then the Celsius came, and we ran towards it, but not before Paine picked up the sphere from some guy.

"Tough luck!" she said and we left.

--

We went to the bridge and were met by Brother and Buddy outside the elevator. Rikku ran up to them, exited as only she could be.

"Wohoho. Did you see their faces? They totally wet their pants." Rikku exclaimed bouncing up and down.

"Maybe we overdid it?" Yuna asked, looking at me. I just shrugged.

"Overdid it? There is no such thing. The Gullwings shall be notorious throughout Spira." Brother said while striking a 'heroic' pose.

Paine walked up behind Rikku, keeping her cool.

"They weren't all that happy." She said and Rikku turned to her with questioning eyes.

"Huh?" Rikku asked. I and Paine walked towards the bridge.

"Don't forget that notoriety can be a bad thing." Paine said and Yuna chuckled.

"That coming from the student of the most notorious wandering guardian in Spira." she said and I huffed a bit.

"Whatever do you mean?" I said, mimicking Leblanc.

"So what if noto…ri…ety can be bad? I want to have fun!" Brother yelled at Paine, struggling a bit with his words.

"Just make sure you don't do anything to land us in hot water, okay?" Buddy asked and Rikku ran up to him.

"Aw, where's the fun in being plain old regular sphere hunters?" Rikku asked.

"Um, yeah, yeah. What she said." Brother yelled and did a little dance with Rikku.

"Oh no..." Paine groaned.

"What?" Yuna asked.

"Whenever Brother and Rikku agree…" Shinra said

"Bad stuff always happens." I finished.

"That can't be good." Yuna said while watching the two siblings play together. They started running after each other in the bridge, while Shinra analyzed the sphere. Paine and I stood and watched, while Yuna tried to calm down the two over energetic blondes.

"Master…?" Paine asked suddenly when she noticed I was deep in thought.

"Yes, I agree. We definitely went too far. I wonder what we are going to do about it." I said and Paine nodded before looking at Brother and Rikku.

"If bad stuff happens…" Paine began but fell silent. I looked at her and recognised her look. It was the look she used to have when she felt danger.

"You having a bad feeling Paine?" I asked and she nodded.

"A very bad feeling. Something is bugging me master, and I can't figure out what." Paine said and I laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'm sure everything will work out great." I said and she gave me a very rare smile, namely a real one.

"Thank you." She said and I turned back to Shinra.

--

Yuna eventually got tired of the two hyper blondes and stood beside me.

"How did the sphere analysis go?" she asked Shinra.

"Hmm…it's just a regular movie sphere. it doesn't appear to have any special functions. Wanna watch?" Shinra asked and I nodded.

"Sure, play away." I said, not realising I just rhymed.

--

The sphere showed a blonde man that looked a little like Tidus walking towards a huge machina. He said something about the machina being the only thing he could count on to save someone named Lenne. Then an alarm went of and he turned and looked behind him.

'Looks like Tidus, but it isn't. I'm almost positive. That machina is enormous though.' I thought. Once the sphere ended, Brother got real panicky.

"What in Spira is that machina?" he asked, bordering on hysterical.

"Any ideas?" Buddy asked.

"Nope, not one. But as machina go, it looks extremely dangerous. Definitely a weapon." Shinra said, while Rikku turned to Yuna.

"Yunie, that's him. Tidus." She said and I could almost see Yuna's thoughts.

"No, that's not him. There is a resemblance, but I don't think it is him. I noticed something different in the way he walked, talked and his clothes are way different. I don't think this is Tidus." I said and Yuna and Rikku looked at me.

"You sure?" Rikku asked.

"No." was the simple reply.

"I don't like this sphere." Brother said and thought for a bit. "Gullwings, front and centre!" he commanded while doing his ridiculous pose and he and Buddy and Shinra gathered around the sphere in the centre of the bridge.

I looked at them and heard Paine whisper to Yuna:

"The Gullwing boys sure like playing together, don't they?"

"Hey, what about me?" I asked Paine, and she and Yuna nearly broke down laughing.

"So, uh… let's give back that sphere, what do you say?" Brother said.

"WHat?" I asked, a little loudly.

"But we worked so hard to get it." Rikku objected but Brother wouldn't listen. Instead he threw a temper tantrum.

"That thing is uber bad news." He said and Buddy was quick to try and calm down the situation.

"What if we donated the sphere to the study of Spira's history? That was what being a sphere hunter was originally about, right?" Buddy asked and I slowly nodded.

"It's a little late to be bringing that up." Paine pointed out.

"Yeah, we already swiped it!" Rikku said while stomping the ground.

"Well, I still don't want it. We're giving it back, now!" Brother yelled and Yuna nodded.

"You don't mind?" Rikku asked.

"Well, I have seen it. And all it showed was a huge machina and someone who might be Tidus or might not be. Not all that exiting." Yuna said and I smiled at that.

"Still, it is pretty shameless to just give back the sphere we just stole." Buddy said.

"True, and if the Gullwings reputation is damaged like that, then the Gullwing leader's as well." I said while grinning at Brother, who was mad.

"Shut up!" he yelled and hung his head.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to be notorious? With worthless reputation, you can't get notorious." Paine said smartly and I had to suppress the urge to laugh loudly. Brother hung his head even lower, almost past his knees.

"Oh, man. This isn't any fun at all." Yuna said after a few moments of silence.

"I have to let of some steam." Rikku said

"You have anything in mind?" Buddy asked.

"Why don't we ask Yuna to dance?" Shinra suggested, taking Yuna by surprise.

"Dance?" she asked. The idea exited Brother.

"Oh, that's it. Yuna, you must dance. Our sanity depends on it." he said.

"Your sanity is already lost, but watching Yuna dance would be fun." I said and Brother half glared at me.

"That sounds like an order, Yuna." Paine said and Yuna looked questionably at me and Brother.

"Yea, but from whom?" she asked. I just shrugged.

"Alright, the exercise will do us good. Hang tight while I go get ready." She said and Brother whooped in joy. After Yuna left, I turned to Paine.

"Are you going to dance?" I asked and she stared at me in disbelief.

"You got to be kidding." She said and I grinned evilly at her. Just as I was about to say something, Yuna came back.

"What's that sound?" she asked Brother.

"Oh, just some hitchhikers I picked up. They are a colourful bunch." He replied.

"Oh, like us then?" I asked and Paine snorted.

--

"Um, master?" Paine asked. The two of us were headed to the deck.

"Hum? Yes?" I asked.

"Brother and Rikku were agreeing again, weren't they?" Paine asked.

"Yeah, so…oh. We better take cower." I said and the two of us snickered for a bit.

--

On the deck, Yuna and our new passengers were dancing, singing and playing. We all had a good time; even Paine showed she enjoyed the song. Brother was ecstatic at seeing Yuna dance.

After the song ended, Yuna walked away while Rikku took over the microphone. I walked after her and sat down next to her near the edge of the deck.

"Is something bothering you babe?" I asked. Yuna responded by scooting closer and laying her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her waist and just enjoyed sitting there.

I felt Yuna tense against me and looked down at her. Her hands were clenched into fists, and her whole body seemed tense.

"Yuna?" I asked, but she didn't appear to hear me.

"Who's Lenne? Why am I so mad? WHO THE HECK IS LENNE!" Yuna shouted, jumping to her feet, casing me to roll away from her. I blinked and stared at her without getting up.

'I think I'll just lay here for a moment. At least until my hearing comes back.' I thought. I thought I heard Yuna say something about going to bed, but with the ringing in my ears I couldn't be sure.

--

Paine came walking over and helped me sit. I could see she tried to talk to me, but I couldn't hear anything.

"Um sorry Paine, but I can't hear anything except some damn ringing." I said and Paine looked at me before taking out a X-potion and giving to me.

"Thanks." I said and drank the potion. I could feel a tingling in my ear and then the ringing stopped.

"Better?" Paine asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, thanks." I said and rubbed my ear.

"What happened?" Paine asked me and I shrugged.

"I don't know. I just sat there, enjoying the peace and suddenly Yuna tensed up and yelled loud enough to damage my hearing. I didn't know she could be that loud." I said and Paine chuckled slightly.

"Poor master." She said mockingly and I glared.

"Anyway, I don't think I'll go to bed tonight. Don't want to face Yuna's wrath if it was me she was angry at. Don't know what I did though." I said. Paine chuckled at me again but didn't say anything.

So I ended up sleeping on the deck that night. Not that I complained, since I control the elements I never feel cold anymore, but it was quite hard to lay on the metal, so I decided to make a bed of ice, which surprisingly was really comfortable.

--

"Um, why is stud sleeping on the deck?" Yuna asked as she, Rikku and Paine walked out of the elevator and headed towards the ice bed I had made.

"Don't know, perhaps it was because you burst his eardrum last night." Paine said smartly.

"I did?" Yuna asked and Rikku nodded.

"Flames couldn't hear anything after you left. I think he was scared that he made you angry or something." Rikku said and Yuna looked embarrassed.

"I yelled that loudly?" she asked herself. Then they reached the bed and the three girls gasped before laughing.

There I was, on the bed I made last night. Only that the ice had cowered me completely, encasing me in something that resembled disturbingly a coffin. I didn't know though, since I was sleeping.

"Okay, maybe he was scared of Yunie, but this is a bit much." Rikku said and tapped the solid ice.

"Um, is he okay?" Yuna asked worriedly, seeing I couldn't move. At all.

"Don't know. Should be break him out?" Paine asked.

"Hey, I have an idea." Came a voice from behind. It was Brother, with Buddy and Shinra trailing behind. It was then that the girls noticed that the Celsius had landed. They were far out at sea, so the airship had lots of space to float.

"What's that idea of yours then?" Rikku asked suspiciously.

"Drop him of the ship." Was Brothers simple, disturbing reply.

"WHAT?" all three of the girls yelled in unison.

"Yeah. Under us is nothing but water. Imagine his face when he wakes up surrounded by water. It will be so cool." Brother said.

"Um, what about breathing. Have you thought about that?" Shinra asked.

"Well, it doesn't seem like he can breathe so much now either." Buddy said thoughtfully.

"True, but still." Paine said.

"Hey, he can control water right? Then he won't drown, he'll just do… something that will stop him from drowning. Right?" Brother asked Shinra.

"Brother!" Yuna scolded, shocked that he seemed to be serious about this.

"I won't let you throw master into the sea. Even though he can control the water." Paine said firmly. Brother was about to say something when a large wave made the Celsius cringe. Everyone steadied themselves, and saw the ice block with me in it slide over the edge.

"Master!""Salmar!""Flames" Yuna, Rikku and Paine yelled and they rushed to the edge along with Brother, Buddy and Shinra. They were in time to see a huge splash.

"Looks like he went into the sea anyway." Buddy said, which earned him a light smack to the head by Rikku.

"We got to do something?" Yuna said, but no one knew what to do.

--

I was dreaming about…something when I felt the sensation of dropping. Then I heard the muffled sound of a splash and felt a sinking feeling. That woke me up. I blinked and discovered I couldn't move.

'Huh? Oh, right. It began to rain last night, so I made a box of ice.' I thought and expanded the ice enough to move my head. I was about to 'open' the ice and allow myself to breathe properly when I saw trough the ice. Water. And not just water from rain either. No I was submerged in water. I looked around and saw that I was sinking.

'What the…?' I thought right before I hit the bottom.

'Okay, this is a tricky situation. Here I am, without much air, on the bottom of some sea. I wonder how I fell of. Hope they haven't flown to far.' I thought as I expanded my power and pushed away the water around me before I did the same to the ice. I took a couple of breaths. The air was thick with sea food. Go figure.

"Well, this is new. Never been to the bottom of the sea before. Oh well, better get up and see where I am." I said and made a platform of ice form under me before rising into the air. I took care to push away the water above me as I rose.

Not too long after starting to rise, I saw light.

"Oh, good. Fresh air." I said and speed up.

--

"How long do you think he will under?" Brother asked cheerfully. Yuna got mad and punched him on the head, almost knocking him out.

"Hey look!" Rikku shouted as the water began to move out of the way and out I rose. I looked around and saw the Celsius, complete with six sets of heads sticking out over the deck. I waved and rose up to them.

When I landed Yuna first launched herself at me and gave me a huge hug, before she hit me.

"Ouch, what did I do?" I asked while rubbing my sore head.

"Why didn't you come to bed last night?" Yuna half yelled, half demanded.

"Are you kidding? After you broke my eardrum I thought I had made you mad or something, so I decided to give you some space." I said and Yuna slumped in defeat.

"I was a bit loud wasn't I?" she asked and I nodded.

"But how did I end up at the bottom of the sea? I clearly remember falling asleep on the deck." I asked puzzled.

Then Paine and Yuna told me what had happened and I glared at Brother.

"You wanted to throw me overboard?" I asked and he gulped a little.

"I was sure you would be alright. And it seemed like a funny idea." Brother said in his defence. I glared a little bit more before shaking my head.

"I won't even begin to thing how much was wrong with that. Can we go and eat now? I'm hungry?" I asked. Paine and Yuna rolled her eyes at me.

'He just survived a trip to the bottom of the sea and he wants to eat?' they thought at the same time.

--

After eating Yuna, I, Rikku and Paine went to the bridge, where Brother, Buddy and Shinra were waiting. When we arrived, Buddy turned to us.

"Giving back the sphere is all well and good, but who do we return it too?" he asked.

"With the Youth League and New Yevon, it's a lose-lose situation." Shinra said.

"What do you think Yuna?" Brother asked and Yuna smiled sweetly.

"I'll follow your orders, leader." She said and Brother grumbled. He then brightened.

"AHA. I got it. I order Yuna to decide." He said.

"Hey, that's cheating." Yuna shot back, but Brother didn't flinch.

Yuna resigned to fate and started thinking. I stood with Paine and Rikku when Yuna got enough of thinking on her own and came over.

"The group that gets the sphere will love us, but the other one…" Paine began

"Will hate us. Like Shinra said, a lose-lose situation." I said and Yuna sighed.

"Well, I don't like New Yevon. It's got Yevon in its name, enough said." Rikku argued.

"But the Youth League is the ones picking the fights." Paine countered.

"They seem to be reckless." I said and we were no where closer to a answer.

"Well…WELL?" Brother pressed. Poor Yuna.

"Ummm…." She said and looked at me for help. I sighed and said.

"The Youth League." I said.

"Why?" Shinra asked. I shrugged.

"No reason. Just felt like picking one." I said and everyone stared at me.

"I've got nothing against it." Rikku said, Paine nodded in agreement.

"The Youth League it is then." Yuna said cheerfully.

"Alright, of to Youth League head quarters." Brother yelled and rushed for the pilot seat.

--


	3. Chapter 3

This is a fan fiction based on the ps2 game Final Fantasy X and X-2. I have no rights to this game, names or characters from the game. That right belongs to Square Enix. This story is based on the game and may differ slightly from the game play.

"Regular speech"

" VERY LOUD YELLING OR VERY LOUD SPEECH."

'thought'

"_Song"_

(A/N: my notes during the story. Stands for author's notes)

-- paragraph

* * *

When we got to the Youth League's head quarters, we were surprised. It looked like a parade in our honour.

"Huh?" was my respond.

"They are really pulling out all the stops." Rikku said, bouncing from excitement.

"I wonder why…" Yuna said.

"You are the high summoner, remember?" Paine asked before starting walking towards Nooj.

I followed, cautiously eyeing the league members.

We reached Nooj, and Brother cleared his throat, urging Yuna to give the sphere.

"We are here to give you the sphere that you were looking for." Yuna said before giving the sphere to Nooj.

"Now you can stop the fighting in Kilika." I said and Nooj nodded.

"How generous…and how sudden. Maybe you should have started with introducing yourselves, High Summoners." Nooj said.

"They are Yuna and Salmar, both Gullwings." Rikku said firmly.

"I see. Sphere hunters. In that case, I gratefully accept the sphere you have brought. On behalf of the Youth League, I thank you." Nooj said before turning to the League members behind us.

"Everyone, three cheers for the Gullwings." Nooj said.

"Yay! GullwingsGullwingsGullwingsGullwings…" the League members cheered.

--

After the cheering ended, we were invited by Nooj to his commanders room, where he sat down at a huge circular table.

"So, did you watch it?" he asked.

"Huh?" Rikku asked.

"The sphere." Nooj clarified and Rikku began to stammer and babble out incoherent excuses.

"Yes, we did." I cut in, and Rikku mumbled

"Oh boy!"

"Forget it." Nooj said but both Yuna and I shook our heads.

"Sorry." I said

"But we can't." Yuna continued.

"Yuna! Don't let him push you around." Paine half growled behind Yuna. Nooj looked at her for a bit, looking almost calculating before giving a short laugh.

"Some advice: That…thing… the colossus you saw is known as Vegnagun. It possesses overwhelming destructive power. It must not be touched! Yet those Yevon fools think they can control it. The Youth League will do whatever it takes to make sure they do not get a chance to try. Trust me, you don't want to get involved." Nooj said.

'Vegnagun? I don't like this. At all. Something huge is about to happen.' I thought, but was brought out of my thoughts by Yuna.

"Who…who was that man in the sphere?" she asked.

"I…cannot say." Nooj replied, and looked genuinely sorry for it.

"I see." Yuna said sadly.

"Tell me, just how strong is Vegnagun?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

Nooj looked at me before sighing.

"It is said to be strong enough to have been a challenge for Sin. But since it can't be controlled, it was never used against Sin. Please, stay away from it." he said and I nodded. Yuna looked at me curiously and was about to ask something when Buddy came running.

"Hey, we got a distress signal from the Celsius. Gullwings, we're leaving." He yelled

--

On the Celsius, we found that someone had broken in. Everyone helped search for anything missing.

After finding no sign of anything stolen in the cabin, I went down to the engine room, joining the others there.

"Its official. We've been burgled. The broken sphere from the Zanarkand Ruins is missing." Shinra said and Buddy help up a pink sphere.

"Looks like the thief left us a present." He said and activated it.

--

We saw Leblanc and her goons on the bridge, Leblanc boasting like usual.

'I wonder what'll happen if I use that fan to smack her over the head.' I wondered to myself.

"She got us." Paine said while crossing her arms, trying to stay calm.

"Wow, who knew she had the brains." I said

"Oh poopie." Yuna huffed and I had to suppress a chuckle.

"Yuna, don't talk like that." Rikku said.

"I'm just copying you." Yuna protested.

"That's nice. And?" Paine asked

"We're gonna take it back! No one messes with us." Yuna replied and I smiled.

'She's really enthusiastic about this.'

"And what about Vegnagun?" Paine asked. Instantly Yuna's mood dropped.

But she shrugged it off.

"Urgh, we're forgetting who we are. We are sphere hunters, the Gullwings." Yuna said fiercely.

I watched amused as the girls gave each others high fives and started laughing and cheering.

Then Brother came and joined in with another ridiculous dance.

"That's right. We steal back what is stolen. It is the law of the sphere hunter." He said and I rolled my eyes.

'Someone please teach him how to, and more importantly when to dance.'

"Now we go to Chateau Leblanc! We attack in the name of honour!" Brother said.

"We get our hineys kicked in the name of honour." Shinra said, effectively bursting Brothers bubble.

"The kid's got a point" I said

"Maybe we can sneak in in disguise?" Yuna asked.

"That's it. Yuna, you're brilliant." Brother cheered and made to envelop Yuna in a hug, but stopped when he saw my glare.

"So, we fly around until we find Leblanc's gang…" Rikku began

"Beat them up and steal their uniforms. Four of them." Paine joined.

"Sounds easy enough. Let's do it." I finished.

--

"Stealing people's clothes. What a lame mission." Paine said and I chuckled.

"Yeah, but... it could be fun as well. Comical relief and what not. It gives us something to do at least." I said and Paine looked at me. She was about to say something, but shook her head instead.

"Whatever." She just said.

"So, where do we search first?" I asked.

"The Moonflow." Rikku suggested while jumping eagerly.

"I want to go to Besaid." Yuna said and before Paine could say anything, Brother appeared.

"Besaid it is." He said and ran over to the pilot seat.

"Um, okay…" I said and Paine rolled her eyes.

--

We arrived at the beach on Besaid and started walking towards the village. Not far from the village, we saw the Besaid Aurochs. They were running around.

"They're training." I stated as we walked over to them.

The Aurochs looked up when we approached and smiled at us.

"So you gave the sphere to the Youth League, ya?" Datto asked and we nodded.

"Ya, we knew you were on our side." Jassu joined.

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked.

"The Besaid Aurochs have all joined the Youth League." Datto said enthusiastically.

"Well, officially, at least. And, uh, Wakka hasn't joined up yet." Jassu said

"Can't blame him, ya? His kid's popping out any minute you know. Now's not the time for him to be fussing around with politics." Datto joined in.

"Sorry, but we aren't on anybody's side." I said and the Aurochs looked a bit down at that.

"Not on anybody's side, you say?" a unknown voice called and we all turned to the new comer.

It was a man wearing white shorts, blue shirt and red armour. He also had a bird mask on his face.

"Who's he?" Yuna asked the Aurochs. The man answered for himself.

"I am Beclem. I've been dispatched to Besaid by Youth League headquarters. I'm here to pound some fight into these pathetic slackers. " Beclem said while crossing his arms. I looked him over before whispering to Paine.

"He's strict, very military. Probably ex-Crusader." Paine nodded in agreement.

"He's a hundred times stricter than Wakka." Jassu complained.

"You must be awfully confident in your strength if you're skipping training just to be flap your lips like that." Beclem said and I suppressed a groan.

'Jeez, what's up with this guy?' I asked myself.

"So, I guess you won't mind showing me what you're really made of, then." Beclem said while walking towards us.

The Aurochs started mumbling excuses to not do what ever he was talking about.

'Why they look so nervous?' I thought while observing the Aurochs.

"Is no one among you man enough to break my record? You're pathetic." Beclem said with a laugh and I chose to ignore the pun towards my manhood.

"Okay, he's creeping me out." Rikku said and I had to agree with her. Yuna and Paine looked like they agreed as well.

"Seriously." Yeah, Yuna agreed. We started to walk away, not wanting to be around this creep anymore.

"See you later Yuna." Datto said and did the prayer but Beclem stopped him.

"Stop that at once!" he shouted and we froze in mid step. Rikku almost fell over.

"The age of temples and prayers is over. It's about time you let go of those musty old traditions. There's no need to bow down to summoners, either. Yes, summoners are a thing of the past." Beclem spat, his voice filled with venom when he said summoners.

"Hold it right there! Whose Calm do you think this is, buster?" Rikku asked and Beclem turned to her.

"There are no more aeons to summon. Summoners are worthless now." he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

I clenched my fists, anger raging inside me. I just managed to control myself and stop from launching huge elemental attacks on the bastard's ass. Yuna apparently weren't much different, although more vocal.

"You will take those words back." she growled and Beclem looked at her curiously.

"I will, if you can prove to me that you aren't worthless." He said and I turned to him. But before I could say anything he continued.

"Well, what do you say?"

"You're on, Beclem." Yuna responded. I looked at her and saw determination shine of her.

"The way you twaddle on before, you had best break my record. Now, begin!" Beclem said confidently.

--

His challenge was to run to the beach while gunning down any fiend in sight. Yuna would get points for how difficult the fiends she killed were.

"Good luck." I said and she smiled at me.

"This will be easy." She said and prepared for the challenge. Beclem, me, Rikku and Paine went to the beach to wait for her there.

"Are you sure you don't want to do this instead of sending your woman to do it?" Beclem asked me. I didn't respond.

After a while, we saw Yuna run towards us. She looked tired, but was grinning.

--

"Score: 830 points!" I said proudly after we had counted Yuna's hunting game.

"Take that! You got thrashed." Rikku yelled, waving towards Beclem.

"Hm. Skill you may have, but I still find it hard to believe that you defeated Sin. You obviously had some help." Beclem replied and I once again found myself wanting to hurt the man.

"I did, from my friends. And my husband." Yuna said firmly and I smiled at her before giving her a hug.

"Our pilgrimage was successful because my friends and the aeons supported us along the way. And they still do. Memories of the time we spent together make me strong. I won't stand here and let you call that strength useless." Yuna continued.

"Must your kind always prattle on about your precious memories?" Beclem said and turned to leave. He didn't get far until I stepped in front of him.

"Watch you tone when you speak to my wife." I warned with a dangerous tone.

"Why? You're going to do something about it, high summoner?" Beclem asked sarcastically. I turned to Yuna.

"Honey, can I kill him?" I asked and still looking at her I grabbed Beclem and lifted him in the air, with one hand.

Yuna appeared to be thinking for a moment before she shook her head.

"No. That won't do any good." She said and I feigned disappointment. It wasn't hard. I turned to look at Beclem, who was trying to get out of my grasp. I tightened my grip, cutting of his air supply.

"Listen up, I'm going to let you walk now, but talk like you just did about summoners, aeons and most importantly my wife so I hear it, and you are going to understand why I was called a demon. Got that?" I asked while letting Beclem go. He snorted and walked past me while rubbing a distinct mark on his neck.

"He's got some nerve!" Rikku said after he went.

"Sore loser." Paine said

"Let's forget him and take the ship to Kilika." I suggested and the girls agreed.

--

We boarded the airship and headed for Kilika.

"What do you think will happen there?" Rikku asked and I shrugged.

"Have no idea. Depends…" I said.

"Depends on what?" Rikku asked

"Which point of view you take." Paine said.

"The Youth League or New Yevon." Yuna added.

"Oh…" Rikku replied.

--

When we arrived in Kilika, we were meet with a crowd of Youth League members. Most of them were clapping, however, their leader, Dona, stood in her usual pose with her hand on her hip. I inwardly groaned, not looking forward to this in the least.

"The Gullwings, was it not?" she asked before shaking her head.

"Sphere hunters who give back spheres. Don't you think that's a little odd?" She asked.

"What's strange about that?" I asked, not bothering trying to conceal how annoyed I was.

"Of course, we're glad you're on the Youth League's side, but still…" Dona replied.

"We do what we want with the spheres we find. Now let us trough." Paine said but Dona shook her head.

"Sorry, can't do that." She said.

"Why not?" Yuna asked curiously.

"We're having a little spat with New Yevon. Just what I need. You don't want to get involved, dear." Dona said and Yuna nodded.

"Alright, We'll come back later then." Rikku said cheerfully, with her ever present bounce.

"Well…you may want to keep your distance from the island for a little while. This could become nasty." Dona said.

"Oh well. Let's head to Luca then." I said and the girls nodded.

--

When we boarded the airship, Rikku and Yuna ran towards the bridge to tell Brother where to head for next, while I went to the cabin. Once there I sat down at the counter.

"Ish Lord Shalmar alrightsh?" Barkeep asked and I shook my head.

"Again, just Salmar will be alright. No Lord and all that. And I'm just fine." I said with a smile towards him.

"Alrights then." He replied.

"Are you sure master?" Paine, who had followed me, asked. Despite her unemotional voice, I knew she was concerned. I sighed and motioned for her to sit down next to me.

"I just wonder where this…rivalry between the Youth League and New Yevon will end." I said.

"Whatsh you meansh?" Barkeep asked.

"I think I know what you mean. You're worried that this might become a full blown war?" Paine asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, as it is now the possibility is definitely there. When Sin was around, the people of Spira had an enemy to focus on. Had something to fight, to use the natural aggression we all have, on. Now that isn't the case anymore, and even though fiends still are here, the people, especially the younger, more energetic ones, have to have something to do. Something they consider grand, exciting, which will let them go down in history. Fighting against the 'evil' other side is that something. At least for a lot of them." I said and Paine nodded.

"I shee. That'sh not good." Barkeep said, busy cleaning a glass with a towel.

"But what can be done about that?" Paine asked and I smirked at her.

"You quit before you heard it. There has been a lot of discussion on that between us senior wandering guardians. We figured that if Sin was beaten forever, then something like this would happen. Several propositions was made, but none were developed more than to simple ideas. That is something I will address at the gathering." I said and Paine was about to say something when Rikku came running in.

"Hey, we've arrived. Let's go!" she shouted before running off again.

I chuckled and I and Paine followed the energetic blonde.

--

The airship dropped us off at the stairs leading from Luca to the Mi-hen high road. We walked down the steps, taking our time. We weren't in a hurry, at least I wasn't. You could really never tell with Rikku, bouncing around as she was.

--

When we came down the steps, we saw a crowd assembled around someone familiar, namely Shelinda, holding a microphone and being filmed by a camera. We walked over, and listened to what she had to say.

"You think it's anything useful?" Paine asked and I let out a short laugh.

"Probably not. Just listen though." I said as Shelinda started.

--

"Hello and good afternoon Luca. This is Shelinda, bringing you the latest news from throughout Spira.

These days, everyone's talking about the main groups battling for control over the spheres in Spira.

One of these groups is the Youth League. Lead by a former Crusader, Meyvn Nooj, the group is made up of mostly former Crusaders. A young group, it has already gotten a notorious reputation throughout Spira.

Pairing up against them is none other than the New Yevon. All eyes were upon them after the chairman's sudden resignation. But their new leader, Praetor Baralai, has held them together with utmost finesse.

Another group getting a lot of attention is the Machine faction, an Al Bhed organisation. They have managed to distance themselves from the sphere race running throughout Spira, but their unmatched technological proves could very much be enough to dramatically shift the balance of power.

And let's not forget the Leblanc Syndicate, a gang with a style of its own. Headquarters at Guadosalam, its agents span the globe.

A recently formed group, the Fire Lord Searchers, are still searching for the man that can control the very elements themselves. No one knows just who this man is, and what will happen once he is found, but it is believed that he is destined to rule the entire Spira." Shelinda said and I almost choke on air, while Paine looked like she was about to burst out laughing. That didn't stop Shelinda though, as she just kept going.

"The oldest group in Spira is the Wandering Guardians. They continue their life of wandering, protecting the people of Spira from fiends. And here is today's first guest: Toby, a genuine wandering guardian." Shelinda said and turned to a man I instantly recognised.

Almost a head taller than Shelinda, Toby wore a dark cloak, covering his entire body. The only part of his body exposed was his head. Brown hair and brown eyes, his face ragged and rough from enduring many storms and hardships. I also knew what that cloak hid, namely a style of armour usually associated by Crusaders, although Toby's was pink. Paine chuckled, obviously recognising him as well. The man was famous for his unusual taste. The fact that he was gay, above thirty and liked men three times his age was enough to earn him a 'looney' reputation.

"Sir Toby, how long have you been a wandering guardian now?" Shelinda asked.

"Seven or eight years." Toby answered thoughtfully.

"Can you tell us why the wandering guardians aren't associated with the sphere struggle, or the power struggle in general." Shelinda asked.

"We don't exist to rule. We wander to protect. That is why, also we know our past, so there is no point to us chasing after spheres, when there is fiends to kill instead." Toby answered.

"Oh, but what of your leader, High Summoner Salmar? He has joined a sphere hunter group. What do you feel about that?" Shelinda asked. Toby coughed slightly before answering.

"Um…first he isn't our leader, since he quit being a wandering guardian when he chose to become a summoner. So I really can't say anything about how he spends his free time." Toby said.

"But I have heard that on the upcoming gathering for wandering guardians, that Lord Salmar will be there. I also heard that it is only for wandering guardians. Care to explain?" Shelinda asked.

"Lord Salmar isn't a active wandering guardian anymore, but we will never turn our backs to him. He has done things that no other wandering guardian can do, and I know that each and every one of us sees Lord Salmar with respect, and a lot of us want to learn from him. He is like a grandfather to us wandering guardians. He no longer actively participates in our activities, but we all listen to him and his advice. He is our retired matriarch, and will hopefully continue to guide us for many years to come." Toby said and I groaned.

"Now I feel old." I said and Paine chuckled.

"I see, thank you for coming, and I wish you good luck with the upcoming gathering." Shelinda said. Toby bowed and made his way to the bar, no doubt to get drunk or something.

"Now, there is one group we haven't mentioned yet. One that has gotten a lot of recent attention. That's right, the only group lead by two high summoners, the Gullwings. And here is today's second guest: High Summoner Yuna." Shelinda said.

"Huh?" came from Yuna. I and Paine smirked at each other and pushed her in Shelinda's direction.

"Break a leg" Paine said. Yuna gave us a look that almost pleaded us to save her, but we just waved and smiled at her. Slumping her shoulders in defeat, Yuna stopped next to Shelinda.

"Lady Yuna, your concert the other day was nothing short of spectacular." Shelinda said.

"Well, it was sort of me up there, but not exactly…." Yuna responded and Shelinda blinked in confusion.

"Puzzling words to be sure. And speaking of puzzling, why the sudden carrier change to sphere hunting? Word has it you caused quite a stir in Besaid with that disappearing act you pulled." Shelinda said.

"And I'm really sorry about that." Yuna replied.

"Rumour has it you left to look for clues about a certain young man. Anything you can share with us?" Shelinda asked.

"That's partly true. I, my friends and my husband are looking for a good friend of us that has been missing for two years now." Yuna replied.

"Husband? Who's the lucky guy?" Shelinda asked.

"That's a secret." Yuna said with a smile that told that she wasn't about to tell.

"So, can you tell us how your friend disappeared?" Shelinda asked.

"It's a long story." Yuna said and Shelinda smiled.

"I'm sure it is. One can only imagine the fascinating tales that lead to you becoming the leader of the Gullwings." Shelinda said.

"Hold it right there." A voice said and Brother stepped into the camera's view.

"I'm the leader. Me. Gullwings, we rock you!" he said and Buddy joined.

"Whoa. This thing on?" He asked.

"It's taping two morons right now." Shinra said before popping up in front of the lens.

"And that makes them three." I whispered at Paine, who chuckled.

"This is just a toy compared to the things I've invented." Shinra bragged and I rolled my eyes.

"Tell us, is it true that the Gullwings has thrown their support behind the Youth League?" Shelinda asked. Brother started waving his hands around.

"That statement is…kinda true, but not really. No!" he said.

'Buddy to the rescue' I thought and sure enough:

"We don't want to get caught up in other people's problems." He said.

"Too late." Paine said and I shook my head.

"Well, I'm sure the viewers would love to hear more answers, but we are running out of time. A big thanks to our guests Toby of the wandering guardians, High Summoner Yuna and the Gullwings." Shelinda said and the camera was turned off. Brother, Buddy and Shinra walked away to do what ever they wanted while I, Rikku and Paine walked over to Yuna, who had walked over to a few stairs close to a sitting arrangement.

"Had a fun time honey?" I asked while smiling at Yuna.

"You should have joined in too." She replied.

"It was more fun watching." Paine said and I nodded in agreement.

Just then, Shelinda, who had been talking about something with her cameraman, came running over.

"Lady Yuna, great interview. Thanks for helping me out. This isn't much, but consider this a token of my gratitude." Shelinda said and handed Yuna a garment grid.

"So, how long have you been doing this?" Rikku asked.

"Well after the Calm came, the temples were in decline. At first, I thought the best thing I could do would be to help the temple get back on their feet. But everyone just ordered me around. I got tired of it." Shelinda said while shaking her head.

"You just couldn't tell them 'no'?" Yuna asked.

"That's the part of me I wanted to change. I made up my mind to come here to Luca. They needed people for this and asked me to help. So, here I am." Shelinda said in a cheerful tone.

"Another job you were 'asked' to do?" Paine wondered and Shelinda smiled while closing her eyes.

"I suppose nothing about me has changed after all. Oh, I gotta run. My next assignment is about to start. See you later Lady Yuna." Shelinda said, waved and ran off.

"She complains, but you can tell she enjoys it." Paine said and Rikku grinned.

"Sounds a bit like Yunie. Don't you think?" she asked.

"Yeah." I agreed and Yuna turned to look at me.

"Really?" she asked. Paine and Rikku shook their heads before running into the booth next to us.

"Doctor P, care to give us your opinion." Rikku asked, trying to imitate a reporter. Paine looked thoughtful for a minute before answering in a very professional manner.

"The hardest person to know is yourself."

"Hey, cut that out." Yuna said and I laughed.

"Feeling hit Yuna?" I asked and she half glared at me.

"What about you? You 'know' yourself enough?" she asked while leaning towards me, as if she was studying my face.

"Nope." I simply answered with a grin, making Yuna sigh.

"Okay, now what?" Rikku asked.

"I have no idea. The Mi-hen highroad?" I asked and the girls nodded.

--

The first thing that met us was the sight of some sentry machina running around. Then it was a huge hover machina with some clerk standing in front of and finally a man that came walking over to us. He apparently noticed the looks we had.

"So, your first time on the high road after the Calm started?" He asked and we nodded.

"Well, the Highroad has really changed a lot since the Calm. The travelling agency rents out hovers that take you to your destination safely and swiftly. That has gradually turned Chokobos into a rare sight here. Also sentry machina are posted around on the Highroad, and will take care of the fiends." The man said. I looked at him before nudging Yuna and pointing upwards. She looked up and gasped.

"Is that so?" I said and Yuna and I drew our guns in sync, and fired a volley of shots at the giant bird fiend that came towards us. It started falling towards us and just before it hit the ground, Rikku and Paine attacked with their blades, Paine almost cutting of one of the wings. Yuna and I then used our fire to make barbeque of the bird.

"Some sentry machina." Paine said and I snorted.

"Come on, lets go. We can handle a few fiends." I said and the others nodded. The man sat on the ground, shaking. I leaned in towards Yuna.

"Why don't you go say 'boo' to him. I'm sure that would be funny." I whispered. Yuna looked behind to see the man and sent me a stern look.

"No, he's scared enough. Although it would probably be funny." She responded. I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her.

"Oh well, next time then." I said. Yuna didn't respond.

"Oy, get a room." Rikku shouted at us from ahead on the trail, before she spun around and continued running.

"Paine, Yuna, please promise me never to give that girl sugar." I said.

Laughter was my answer.

--

"Sentry machina my foot. How many fiends does that make?" I asked angrily after crushing a wolfs head.

"Twenty." Came Paine's calm answer.

"This seriously isn't fun anymore." Rikku complained.

"Oh hush. We're almost to the travel agency. At least we can rest there." Yuna said, although I could see in her eyes that she was annoyed as well. The way her fire flicker told me all I needed to know.

"I can't wait to get there and have a nice relaxing bath. Care to join me, my dear?" I asked Yuna in a falsely wondering tone. She visibly brightened up, while Rikku and Paine shook their heads at us.

Just then, another wolf came jumping out of some bushes and straight towards Yuna. It got incinerated, shocked, drowned and frozen solid before hitting the ground. I blinked a little, while Yuna, Rikku and Paine looked from the now frozen and very dead fiend, to me. I chuckled a bit before scratching my head.

"Um…it was going for Yuna." I said and Paine rolled her eyes while Rikku snickered.

"Wow, overprotective, are we?" she asked and I blushed slightly.

"That was a bit much, you know?" Yuna said, but again her eyes spoke and told me she wasn't very displeased with me.

"Let's just get to the travel agency. Before I blow the next fiend into orbit." I said, making the others chuckle at me.

--

"Fiinnaallyy" Rikku moaned as we reached the travel agency.

"Let's get inside and book some rooms so I and Yuna can have some quality time." I said, receiving a bonk to the head.

"Is that all you think about?" Rikku yelled in my ear while pulling me into a choke hold, neither of us noticing the very noticeable blush on Yuna's face.

"What? I want to give my wife a massage. What's so wrong with that?" I asked and Rikku blinked at me a few times before letting me go.

"Never mind." She mumbled and headed into the travel agency.

"I wonder why Rikku thinks of sex all the time." Paine asked loudly, forcing me and Yuna to try and stifle our laughter.

"I heard that." Rikku yelled and we couldn't hold back anymore. I and Yuna broke down laughing, while Paine just snickered.

Rikku didn't talk to us that night.

--

I and Yuna laid in bed, just enjoying the silence. Until finally Yuna asked me something she had been wondering for a while.

"What do you think about those Fire Lord Searchers?" she asked and I looked into her eyes, feeling myself getting lost in their endless depths, until I realised I had to answer.

"I don't know. One thing is for sure though, I am not destined to rule Spira. That is one thing I do not want. It's bad enough to be High Summoners and have lots of people looking up us, but that? No way." I said and Yuna smiled a happy smile, which always warmed my heart. She laid her head on my chest, sighing.

"I'm glad. I don't think I could have taken that. Oh, by the way." she said and rose up on her elbows, giving me a nice view of her body. She ignored my look and continued with what she was going to say.

"Why did you ask how strong Vegnagun is?" she asked and I instantly sobered up.

"Didn't you notice? It looked huge, and very strong, no to mention old. The sphere was old too, that's why the recording was a little bad." I said and Yuna nodded, laying back down. I started running my fingers trough her hair, getting what sounded like a purr in response.

"That still doesn't answer my question." She complained.

"I asked because I was curious. And I wanted to know if I could destroy it, should someone try to use it." I said and Yuna looked up to me.

"Do you think you can?" she asked and I thought for a while.

"Don't know. Probably, I mean, we did defeat Sin and Yu Yevon. But I'm not sure. Better cross that bridge when we get there." I said and Yuna nodded in agreement.

"Let's just go to sleep for now. Okay?" I asked. My response was Yuna wrapping her arms around me. I smiled and held her as well, both of us falling asleep quickly.

--

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was something missing. It didn't take long to figure out that it was Yuna, especially not when I heard the shower running. Smiling to my self, I walked into the bathroom that accompanied the room. Sure enough, Yuna was standing in the shower. Getting a idea, I used some of my power and made the water get very cold. The shock made Yuna jump and shriek. She turned and glared at me, while I could barely contain my laughter.

"Oh, you are so going to pay for that." Yuna half growled, her eyes blazing wildly. I looked up just in time to see lots of water being hurled at me, curtsey of a bucket. It was filled with ice cold water, obviously intended to wake me up later. But being who I am, the water didn't affect me other than make me drenched.

"Oh, wake up call." I chuckled and walked over to a slightly shivering Yuna. I felt a little bad, so I made my fire cover us both, warming her right up.

"You know, I could have done that." She said and I nodded.

"Yeah, but think of it as my apology for a bad prank." I said and Yuna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, I'm not talking to you." She said and I had to stop myself from chuckling. Standing behind her, after removing my drenched bed clothes, I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her stomach, kissing a special spot on her neck. A spot that never failed to turn Yuna into putty in my hands. To her credit, she kept her façade of angry wife up for a while, before sighing and leaning into my touch.

"Why are you so good with that?" she asked, and this time I did chuckle.

--

When we finally stepped out of the shower, we were both feeling very refreshed, although slightly tired as well. We dried each other off before dressing and exiting the room, where we found Paine and Rikku, both looking impatient.

"Finally. Did you really have to take so long?" Rikku asked and I smiled at her.

"We aren't in any hurry, so why stress? Slow down a little Rikku, it'd do you good." I said and Rikku huffed. We then walked out of the hallway and into the reception area of the travel agency. It was mostly empty, except a little girl that was asking the clerk for something.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be able to go Chokobo riding." The clerk said and the girl looked depressed.

"I see. Sorry to bother you." She said dejected, and walked out.

Paine walked over to the clerk to check us out, while I looked after the little girl.

"She seemed familiar somehow." I said and Yuna nodded.

"Wonder who she is." Rikku asked. When Paine was done, we went outside and saw the girl standing at the edge of the cliffs, looking out at the sea.

"Let's go talk to her." Rikku said and bounced off.

"There she goes." Paine said. Yuna smiled before dragging me along with her.

--

Rikku and Yuna walked up to the girl, while I and Paine hung back a little, neither of us feeling very talkative.

The girl looked at Yuna and looked excited.

"You aren't Lady Yuna, by any chance?" she asked and Yuna nodded.

"That's me." She said with a smile and the girls face practically lit up.

"I don't suppose you remember me, do you?" She asked cheerfully.

"Um, you look familiar, but I can't place you." Yuna said apologetically.

"That's okay. It's me, Calli." Calli said and both Yuna and I gasped.

"Little Calli that looked so forward to the Calm? She's grown." I said and Paine looked at me.

"We meet her here on the Highroad two years ago." I explained and she nodded.

"I came to ride a Chokobo. I've wanted to ride one for as long as I can remember." Calli responded to Yuna's question.

Rikku looked a little thoughtful.

"Hmm, you don't see too many chokobos these days. Everyone rides hovers." She said and Calli looked sad.

"Yeah…on top of that, they say there is a chokobo hunting fiend around. Not very good times for poor chokobos." Calli responded.

"Maybe they're gone for good?" Rikku wondered.

"Nah, probably not." I said and Calli gasped.

'Huh? What?' I thought.

"Cho…" Rikku said.

"Cho!" Yuna mirrored.

"Cho…?" Paine asked.

"It's a chokobo." Calli yelled. Paine and I turned and true enough, behind us a chokobo stood. It looked at us before starting to run away.

"Oh no, it ran away." Calli said, feeling distressed.

"Oh no." I said and Paine looked at me.

"Three, two, one…" I counted down and…

"Let's go capture it." Rikku suggested.

"Bingo." I said, slumping my shoulders.

"Yeah, let's." Yuna joined in and she and Rikku ran after the chokobo, forcing me and Paine to follow.

"You knew they would do this, didn't you?" Paine asked and I nodded.

"Yeah. Now we have to run after a damn bird. Hey babe, can I roast it?" I yelled after Yuna, who nearly stumbled in surprise when she heard that.

"No, you can't. We're going to capture it." she scolded, turning a serious expression to me.

I sighed and nodded.

"Alright." I replied. Yuna beamed at me and continued running.

"She's got you whipped." Paine said and I nodded.

"I just can't say no to her. Not unless I really have to." I said, but I wasn't very unhappy about that.

--

We ran after Rikku, who took point, and occasionally shouted: "Ohh! There it is!" or "It went this way"

After running the whole highroad in zigzags, I started getting annoyed.

"Honey, can't I at least freeze it?" I asked.

"NO" Yuna and Rikku yelled back.

"Grumpy." Paine mumbled.

And so the chase continued.

--

We finally spotted it, standing between two narrow points in the highroad.

"I'll watch the far end. No chokobo will get out that way." Rikku said.

"I've got this end." Paine said.

"And that leaves us to catch it." Yuna said to me, while I suppressed a groan.

And so we began to chase the damn bird down, blocking it's path with our bodies. While not particularly difficult, it was extremely annoying. And useless, since the chokobo managed to jump straight over Rikku, and we had to continue the chase.

"Maybe it's just me…but this is starting to chap my hide!" Rikku exclaimed.

"Believe me Rikku, it's not just you." I commented, before we started running again.

"Come back here, birdbrain." Rikku yelled

--

Now Rikku had lost sight of the damn bird, so we had to search. Rikku climbed several high places, looking for the bird.

"For such scrawny legs, it sure can run." Paine growled.

"Well, to look at the bright side, we are getting good exercise from this." I commented, getting dirty looks from the silver and blonde haired girls.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! That way, that way!" Rikku yelled while pointing to where she saw the bird.

"Let's go." Yuna called and we started to run, leaving Rikku on top of a high ruin.

"Hey, wait for me." Rikku yelled, before falling down from the ruin.

"Owie….hey, wait!" she moaned before jumping up and running again.

We caught up to the bird, only to have it outrun us again. Rikku plumped down on the ground.

"There's got to be a better way than this." she moaned.

"We won't get him like this. We have to think of something else." Paine said and I nodded.

"Any ideas?" Yuna asked me. I nodded and walked over to the lady with the hovers.

"Excuse me, but could you help us with something?" I asked.

--

We found the chokobo again, and Rikku scared it into running again, but Paine blocked its way. It turned and started running in the opposite direction.

But there Yuna stood, looking really proud of herself, posing with her hands on her hips and all.

But the bird just jumped over her, just like we planned.

Me and the lady with the hover came driving towards the chokobo, making it run again.

The hover drove in front of the chokobo, blocking its path. I jumped off and got a rope around it's neck.

"Gotcha, birdbrain." Rikku yelled and the bird slumped, either in defeat or exhaustion. I don't know.

Then some dude came running up to us.

"Hey, your friend is in hot water." He said. As we began running back, he told us that Calli had been able to get a chokobo ride, and that the chokobo had tossed her of on top of some ruin in the old road, and that a chokobo eater was after her.

"Time to pick up some speed girls." I said and they nodded.

--

It took us some time to get to where Calli was. Thankfully, Clasko and some chokobos had kept the fiend occupied. I turned to the girls.

"Grab hold" I said and they complied. We vanished in a burst of elements and reappeared next to Clasko, who nearly jumped out of his own skin.

"Okay, here's the plan. I and Paine go and fight that thing, while you two get Calli." I said to Yuna and Rikku, both who nodded in understanding.

"Come on, ugly!" I called to the fiend, who jumped towards me and Paine.

"It'll be nice fighting alongside you again, master." Paine said and brandished her sword.

"What do you mean, we have fought alongside each other. We did yesterday, remember?" I said and Paine shook her head.

"But now it's just you and me." she said.

"Oh." I responded, but before I could say anything else, the fiend tried to grab me.

But before it could, Paine tired to chop of its arm. Her attack didn't go far into its arm, but the fiend was obviously in pain. Getting my sword into its back couldn't have helped either. I and Paine continued what we had dubbed our 'dance of parallel swords', which consisted of attacking at the same time on two different spots on our enemy. The fiend didn't know which way to guard or counter, and soon it fell and dissolved into pyre flies.

I looked at Paine while trying to calm my breath.

"You know, I think I have to restart your training. You seem out of shape." I said and Paine half glared at me.

"We won, didn't we?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yes, but it took much longer than it should. Besides, don't you want to be stronger?" I asked with a grin, already knowing the answer. Paine sighed, still pretending to be unwilling.

"As you wish, master." She responded.

--

In the end, all the running was worth it when Calli rode the chokobo we had captured. She looked so happy.

We went back to the travel agency, and was about to board the Celsius, when Calli came riding up to us.

"Hey, thanks for the help." She called.

"No problem." Yuna said, her bright smile showing she was happy, and that made me happy.

"Um, can I ask you for something else?" Calli asked, while scraping the ground with her foot.

"Sure, what is it?" Rikku asked.

"Could you…um…let me and my chokobo on your airship? We want to see all of Spira." Calli said and we turned to Rikku.

"Um…okay." She said happily and Calli squealed.

"Thank you." She said and we went aboard.

--

Once back on the airship, I went and talked to Brother.

"Can you land us far out at sea?" I asked. He looked at me, wondering why I wanted that.

"We have just run all over the highroad after a chokobo. The girls and I are tired. So I thought we take the rest of the day off, and out at sea is peaceful and nice." I explained, even before he asked any questions.

After thinking for a bit, he nodded.  
"Sure. Out at sea it is." He said and I smiled.

"Thanks."

--


End file.
